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LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


LAND  &  RUSSEI 

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SELECTIONS  FROM 

THE  LETTERS,  SPEECHES,  AND 
STATE   PAPERS   OF 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


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Edited 
With  Introduction  and  Notes 


by 


IDA  M.  TARBELL 


GINN  AND   COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  ¥ORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


I 


COPYRIGHT,   191 1,  BY 
IDA  M.  TARBELL 


ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED 
A  911.12 


gEfte   gtftenaum   -gregg 

GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  ■  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

This  little  book  is  founded  on  the  compiler's  conviction  that 
the  most  practical  and  inspiring  guide  our  history  offers  for  de- 
veloping genuinely  democratic  Americans  is  the  life  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  Coupled  with  this  conviction  is  a  second  equally 
strong,  that  the  best  place  to  study  Lincoln  is  in  his  own  writings. 

The  selections  here  given  have  been  chosen  with  three  dif- 
ferent but  closely  related  ideas  in  mind : 

i.  Abraham  Lincoln's  understanding  of  democracy,  and  the  way 
he  worked  it  out  in  his  own  life,  in  his  relations  with  his  fellows  and 
with  the  American  people. 

2.  His  intellectual  and  moral  development,  particularly  as  we  see 
it  in  his  handling  of  the  slavery  question. 

3.  His  English  prose  and  the  method  by  which  it  was  perfected. 

The  selections  should  be  read  with  the  facts  of  his  life  in 
mind.  The  pupil  should  be  helped  to  put  himself  in  Lincoln's 
place  by  such  concrete  questions  as : 

1 .  How  old  was  Lincoln  at  this  time  ? 

2.  In  what  town  was  he  living? 

3.  How  was  he  earning  his  living? 

4.  Who  were  his  friends  ?    What  was  his  family  ? 

5.  What  books  was  he  reading? 

6.  What  was  his  political  party  and  what  was  its  platform  ? 

7.  Was  he  seeking  an  office,  and  if  so,  what  was  it?  Who  was  his 
opponent  ? 

These  questions  well  answered  will  help  the  pupil  to  see  Lin- 
coln much  as  he  sees  other  men.  Biographies  which  will  be  use- 
ful are:  "A  Short  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  by  John  George 

iii 


vU  r 


iv  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

Nicolay ;  "  The  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  by  J.  G.  Holland  | 
"  Abraham  Lincoln,  A  Biography  for  Young  People,"  by  Noah 
Brooks ;  "  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Man  of  the  People,"  by  Nor- 
man Hapgood ;  "  Abraham  Lincoln,"  by  John  Torrey  Morse,  Jr. ; 
"  The  Every-Day  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  by  Francis  F. 
Browne,  and  the  compiler's  "  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 

Materials 

The  selections  are  arranged  chronologically.  They  begin  with 
the  first  public  address,  written  when  Lincoln  was  twenty-three 
years  old,  and  end  with  his  last  public  words  spoken  in  Wash- 
ington three  days  before  his  assassination.  They  consist  of  let- 
ters to  friends  and  to  political  allies  and  opponents,  of  public 
papers,  of  addresses  on  a  great  variety  of  occasions,  and  of  ex- 
tracts from  the  debates  and  speeches  in  which  he  expounded 
his  ideas  on  slavery.  If  fuller  material  is  wished,  or  a  complete 
copy  of  a  document  from  which  only  a  fragment  is  here  quoted, 
the  best  source  in  which  to  seek  it  is  Nicolay  and  Hay's  "  Com- 
plete Works  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 

In  reading,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  ideas  which 
have  controlled  the  selections  run  through  practically  all  of 
them  and  are  not  illustrated  simply  by  a  few  extracts. 

Lincoln's  Ideas  of  Democracy 

It  is  important  that  Lincoln's  ideas  of  democracy  be  disen- 
tangled from  theory  and  oratory  in  the  pupil's  mind  and  be 
presented  clearly  as  a  series  of  practical  rules  of  life,  as  they 
certainly  were  to  their  author. 

I.  Let  the  pupil  work  out,  from  the  selections  and  with  what 
help  he  can  get  fro?n  biographies,  Lincoln'' s  notions  of  what  a  man 
should  be  in  a  democracy. 

I.  Self-Respecting.  Study  his  relations  to  other  men  to  show 
this:  to  his  law  partner  Herndon ;  to  Stephen  H.  Douglas;  to 
William   H.  Seward;  to  his  generals. 


PREFACE  V 

2.  Self-Reliant.  At  critical  points  in  his  career  Lincoln  always  fol- 
lowed his  own  conclusion  as  to  what  was  wise.  Illustrate  this  by  his 
choice  of  studies,  political  policies,  and  choice  of  men  for  his  adminis- 
tration and  for  the  army. 

3.  Self-Developing.    Trace  his  struggles  for  education. 

4.  Holding  Public  Good  above  Self-interest.  How  he  took  his  de- 
feat in  1858,  sacrificing  his  ambition  to  be  a  United  States  senator  in 
order  to  make  the  issue  clear  to  the  people.  How  he  offered  to  resign 
from  the  presidency  if  it  would  help  the  situation.  How  he  insisted 
in  1864  on  making  a  draft  of  men  needed  for  the  war,  although  the 
action  threatened  to  defeat  his  reelection  to  the  presidency. 

II.  What  was  Lincoln's  idea  of  the  relation  of  one  man  to 
another  in  a  democracy  f 

This  theme  can  be  studied  best  by  taking  up  Lincoln's  treatment 
of  certain  persons  with  whom  he  was  thrown  into  close  relationship. 

1.  His  Stepbrother.     See  letters  of  advice  to  him. 

2.  Stephen  H.  Douglas.  See  Lincoln's  treatment  of  him  in  the 
debates  of  1858. 

3.  General  George  B.  McClellan. 

4.  Horace  Greeley. 

III.  What  was  Lincoln's  idea  of  a  public  mail's  relation  to  the 
people  in  a  democracy  ? 

1.  Did  he  believe  the  people  capable  of  thinking  out  public  ques- 
tions and  coming  to  their  own  conclusions,  or  did  he  believe  they  fol- 
lowed the  views  of  the  leader  of  their  political  party  ? 

2.  What  did  Lincoln  mean  by  "  fooling"  the  people? 

3.  What  did  Lincoln  believe  to  be  the  right  and  true  way  to  lead 
the  people  ? 

Ample  material  for  answering  and  illustrating  these  questions 
is  contained  in  a  study  of  his  debates  with  Douglas,  in  his 
efforts  for  compensated  emancipation,  and  in  his  insisting  that 
the  Civil  War  be  continued  until  the  South  laid  down  arms. 

Helpful  reading  on  the  democracy  of  Lincoln  is  to  be  found 
in  Carl   Schurz's  Essay  on  Abraham  Lincoln;    in  Herbert 


vi  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Croly's  comments  on  Lincoln  in  his  "  Promise  of  American 
Life " ;  in  James  Russell  Lowell's  Essays. 

Lincoln's  Treatment  of  the  Question  of  Slavery 

Lincoln's  treatment  of  the  question  of  slavery  gives  an  ad- 
mirable opportunity  to  study  his  mental  and  moral  develop- 
ment. The  selections  here  given  are  sufficient  to  enable  the 
pupil  to  trace  the  way  in  which  he  solved  each  successive  step 
in  the  problem  from  1837,  the  time  of  his  first  public  protest 
against  the  institution,  to  the  days  just  before  his  death,  when 
he  was  considering  a  policy  of  merciful  reconstruction. 

The  following  questions  will  serve  as  suggestions  for  work- 
ing out  this  important  study  : 

1.  What  was  the  general  opinion  on  slavery  in  Illinois  in  1837 
when  Lincoln  made  his  first  public  protest  against  it?  Did  he  run 
any  risk  of  losing  his  place  in  the  State  Assembly  by  his  action? 
What  experience  had  he  had  with  the  institution  before  this? 

2.  What  was  the  political  situation  in  1845  which  called  out  the 
letter  to  Williamson  Durley  ?  What  were  Lincoln's  political  ambitions 
at  the  time? 

3.  What  was  Lincoln  doing  when  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
repealed,  and  what  effect  did  that  repeal  have  upon  him  ? 

4.  Why  did  Lincoln  leave  the  Whig  party  in  1856?  What  were 
the  views  of  the  new  Republican  Party  ? 

5.  What  was  Douglas's  main  argument  in  the  debates  of  1858? 
How  did  Lincoln  answer  that  argument?  What  were  the  arguments 
by  which  Lincoln  sustained  his  position  that  slavery  must  be  stopped 
or  it  would  spread  over  the  entire  nation  ? 

6.  Was  the  Civil  War  fought  to  free  the  black  man  ? 

7.  How  did  Lincoln  show  that  slavery  was  inconsistent  with 
democracy  ? 

8.  Why  did  Lincoln  want  to  free  the  slaves  by  buying  them  ? 

9.  Was  emancipation  a  wise  war  measure  ? 
10.  What  was  Lincoln's  idea  of  reconstruction? 


PREFACE  vii 

Throughout  this  study  stress  should  be  laid  on  the  intel- 
lectual integrity,  the  courage  and  the  willingness  to  sacrifice 
personal  to  public  interest,  which  characterized  Lincoln's  succes- 
sive positions.  In  1837,  in  1856,  in  1858,  in  1861,  1862,  1863, 
1864,  —  at  each  critical  moment  in  his  connection  with  slavery 
questions  —  he  risked  his  position  by  the  boldness  with  which  he 
insisted  that  his  views  should  be  understood. 

Books,  other  than  those  above  named,  useful  for  this  study 
are  "  Six  Months  at  the  White  House  with  Abraham  Lincoln," 
by  Francis  B.  Carpenter ;  "  Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
by  Distinguished  Men  of  His  Times,"  by  Allen  Thorndike  RLice. 

Lincoln  as  a  Writer  of  English 

Abraham  Lincoln's  ability  to  serve  the  country  was  greatly 
increased  by  his  command  of  English  prose.  The  result  of  his 
close  hard  thinking  could  never  have  been  as  effective  if  he 
had  not  understood  the  art  of  putting  thoughts  into  convincing 
and  moving  words,  and  at  the  same  time  conveying  a  sense  of 
his  own  sincerity.  His  art  was  the  logical  result  of  a  life-long 
struggle  to  express  the  ideas  which  interested  him,  so  clearly 
that  the  humblest  could  understand  his  meaning. 

It  will  be  well  to  begin  a  study  of  his  English  by  a  review  of 
his  schooling  and  his  habits  of  reading,  of  writing,  and  of 
speaking,  when  a  boy.  In  turn  there  should  be  taken  up  his 
study  of  English  grammar,  of  surveying,  and  of  the  law.  What 
were  the  reasons  impelling  him  in  each  case  ?  What  were  his 
obstacles  ?    How  did  he  meet  them  ?   How  did  he  succeed  ? 

Two  books  largely  formed  Lincoln's  style,  —  the  Bible  and 
Shakespeare.  The  tracing  of  their  effect  on  his  prose  is  not 
difficult  and  should  be  attempted  by  the  pupil. 

The  gradual  development  of  his  style  may  be  traced  by 
comparing  extracts  of  different  periods,  —  as  his  first  public 
address  in  1832  with  the  speech  on  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 


viii  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Compromise  in  1854,  with  the  Cooper  Union  speech  in  i860, 
and  with  the  First  and  Second  Inaugurals.  Compare  in  these 
extracts  the  vocabulary  he  commanded  at  different  times,  the 
flexibility  and  elegance  of  phrase,  the  elevation  of  tone,  and  the 
ability  to  convey  feeling  as  well  as  ideas. 

A  similar  comparative  study  may  be  made  of  Lincoln's  letters, 
documents  too  often  overlooked.  Take  the  letter  to  his  partner 
Herndon,  written  in  1864,  and  compare  with  that  his  letters  to 
Hooker,  Grant,  Greeley,  and  Mrs.  Bixby  here  printed. 

The  purest  and  most  beautiful  English  he  wrote  is  found 
in  the  Springfield  Farewell,  the  Gettysburg  Address,  and  the 
Second  Inaugural,  and  they  deserve  most  careful  analysis 
according  to  the  favorite  methods  of  the  individual  teacher. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  their  full  value  cannot  be 
appreciated  unless  the  pupil  understands  the  occasion  which 
called  each  forth. 

For  studies  in  strength  and  exactness  of  expression  there  are 
no  writings  better  than  Lincoln's  remarks  on  labor  and  capital 
in  the  Annual  Message  of  1861,  and  the  letters  to  Horace 
Greeley  (August  22,  1862),  to  General  Hooker  (January  26, 
1863),  and  to  J.  C.  Conkling  (August  26,  1863). 

The  value  of  the  short  well-chosen  word  and  of  the  terse 
sentence  are  admirably  illustrated  in  these  extracts. 

Books  which  throw  light  on  his  literary  qualities  are  Carl 
Schurz's  Essay  on  Lincoln,  Richard  Watson  Gilder's  Intro- 
duction to  his  "  Lincoln ;  Passages  from  His  Speeches  and 
Letters  "  ;  and  James  Russell  Lowell's  Essay  on  Lincoln. 

I.  M.  T. 


/ 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction xi 

Views  on  Money-Loaning,  Education,  and  Lawmaking  ...  3 

Political  Views  in  1836 5 

First  Public  Protest  against  Slavery 6 

Letter  to  Williamson  Durley 7 

Letter  to  William  H.  Herndon,  his  Law  Partner,  reproving 

him  for  Suspicion  of  Others 9 

Reflections  on  seeing  Niagara  Falls  (1848) 10 

Notes  on  the  Practice  of  Law  (1850) n 

Letter  to  John  D.  Johnston  (January  2,  1851) 13 

Letter  to  John  D.  Johnston  (November  4,  1851) 14 

Hope,  the  Inspiration  of  Labor 15 

Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  Right  of  Self-Government  16 

After  the  Defeat  of  1856 25 

"  A  House  divided  against  itself  " 25 

Equality  of  White  and  Black  Races 31 

Republican  and  Democratic  Principles  compared 32 

Lincoln's  Autobiography 37 

Slavery  as  the  Fathers  viewed  it 39 

Farewell  Speech  to  his  Friends  in  Springfield 63 

Address  in  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia 63 

First  Inaugural  Address 65 

Lincoln's  Reply  to  Secretary  Seward's  Offer  to  become  the 

Head  of  the  Administration 76 

On  the  Relation  of  Labor  and  Capital 77 

Message  to  Congress  recommending  Compensated  Emanci- 
pation      79 

Letter  to  Horace  Greeley 81 

ix 


X  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

PAGE 

Sabbath  Observance 82 

Extract  from  Annual  Message 83 

Emancipation  Proclamation 92 

Letter  to  General  Joseph  Hooker 94 

Proclamation  for  a  National  Fast  Day 95 

Letter  to  General  LT.  S.  Grant 96 

Letter  stating   his    Position   in    Regard   to    the  War  and   to 

Emancipation 97 

Proclamation  for  Thanksgiving 101 

The  Gettysburg  Address 103 

Amnesty  for  those  in  Rebellion 104 

Suggesting  that  Intelligent  Negroes  be  admitted  to  the  Elective 

Franchise 109 

Review  of  Slavery  Policy no 

Letter  to  General  U.  S.  Grant 112 

Letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby 113 

Extract  from  Annual  Message 113 

Second  Inaugural  Address 117 

The  Last  Public  Address 119 

Notes     . 125 


INTRODUCTION 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  most  perfectly  developed 
men  intellectually  and  morally  which  this  country  has  produced. 
He  had  the  power  which  is  the  highest  end  of  education,  —  that 
is,  the  power  to  think  out  to  a  logical  conclusion  the  problems 
which  life  brought  to  him,  and  to  express  these  conclusions  in 
language  which  the  simplest  could  understand,  and  which  at 
the  same  time  was  distinguished  in  style  and  most  effective  in 
convincing  and  moving  men.  His  moral  power  matched  his 
intellectual  power  ;  that  is,  when  he  had  once  made  up  his  mind 
that  a  course  of  action  was  wise,  no  amount  of  persuasion  or 
pressure  could  dissuade  him  from  following  it.  He  had  in  the 
highest  degree  "  the  courage  of  his  convictions." 

The  superiority  of  Lincoln's  development  is  the  more  sur- 
prising because  of  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  worked 
out.  He  was  born  on  a  small  farm  in  Kentucky,  when  that 
country  was  still  sparsely  settled  and  its  opportunities  for  school- 
ing were  meager  ;  his  father  moved  when  he  was  but  seven  years 
old  to  a  piece  of  uncleared  land  in  Indiana.  The  log  cabin 
which  became  his  home,  young  Lincoln  helped  to  build.  The 
food  and  clothes  of  the  family  he  helped  to  produce.  He 
was  strong  and  good-natured,  and  was  his  father's  most  useful 
helper  in  the  hard  task  of  earning  a  living  from  what  proved 
to  be  a  rather  poor  farm. 

His  father  was  illiterate,  unable  to  sign  his  name  save  with 
difficulty,  and  never  known  to  read  any  book  but  the  Bible. 
The  boy  never  had,  all  told,  over  a  year  of  schooling,  and  even 
this  was  under  the  itinerant  system  common  to  pioneer  districts 
where  the  only  qualifications  required  of  a  teacher  were  that  he 

xi 


xii  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

be  able  to  teach  "  readin',  writin',  and  'rithmetic  to  the  rule  of 
three,"  and  where  a  master  who  understood  a  little  Latin  was 
looked  upon  as  a  wizard.  There  was  but  one  redeeming  feature 
to  his  boyhood  education,  —  his  mother,  a  gentle  woman,  able 
to  read  and  write  and  with  a  genuine  ambition  to  instruct  and 
inspire  her  children.  She  gathered  them  about  her,  relating  to 
them  Bible  stories,  curious  country  legends,  wild  tales  of  Indians 
and  of  pioneer  hardships,  and  often  when  it  grew  dark  in  the 
evenings,  heaping  the  chimney  place  of  the  log  cabin  full  of 
spicewood  brush,  that  her  boy  and  his  sister  might  see  to  read 
their  few  books  and  to  con  their  lessons. 

Lincoln's  own  mother  died  when  he  was  only  eight  years  old. 
His  father  married  again,  and  fortunately  for  the  boy,  the  step- 
mother proved  to  be  as  interested  in  his  books  and  lessons  and 
as  ambitious  that  he  should  learn  as  his  own  mother  had  been. 
Indeed,  as  he  grew  up  and  his  father  objected  to  his  taking  time 
for  reading  and  study,  it  was  his  stepmother  who  became  his 
defender. 

In  spite  of  the  barrenness  of  his  early  surroundings  the  boy 
showed  from  the  first  a  love  of  books  and  a  necessity  for  ex- 
pressing himself  in  writing.  As  soon  as  he  had  learned  to  read, 
books  became  his  constant  companions.  There  were  few  in 
either  the  house  of  his  father  or  those  of  his  neighbors.  The 
Bible,  "  ^Esop's  Fables,"  "  Robinson  Crusoe,"  "  Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress," "  A  History  of  the  United  States,"  and  Weems's  "  Life 
of  Washington  "  comprised  the  store  of  reading  matter  in  the 
community  in  which  he  lived,  and  when  young  Lincoln  had  ex- 
hausted this  he  began  to  borrow  from  a  distance.  He  once  told 
a  friend  that  there  was  not  a  book  he  had  not  read  within  a 
radius  of  fifty  miles  of  his  boyhood  home.  The  character  of  the 
books  seems  to  have  made  little  difference  to  him.  The  legends 
say  that  he  walked  as  far  to  get  a  treatise  of  law  as  to  get  a 
volume  of  poetry  or  biography.  Everything  excited  his  eager 
curiosity,  his  hungry  desire  for  new  thought  and  expression. 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

He  did  not  simply  read  the  books  ;  he  absorbed  them,  copying 
long  extracts,  making  them  literally  his  own,  —  something  which 
he  could  and  did  recite  as  he  followed  the  plow,  and  which 
furnished  him  material  for  the  long  discussions  he  sought  with 
every  passing  neighbor. 

When  his  boyhood  was  past  and  he  had  entered  upon  that 
career  of  Jack-of-all-trades  which  he  was  forced  to  pursue  until 
he  was  nearly  twenty-five  years  old,  he  continued  to  read  much 
in  the  intervals  of  railsplitting,  flatboating,  storekeeping,  acting 
as  village  postmaster  and  deputy -surveyor.  In  this  period  of 
life  he  made  a  thorough  and  critical  acquaintance  with  Shake- 
speare and  Burns.  It  is  rare  indeed  that  a  person  is  found  so 
well  versed  in  Shakespeare  as  Lincoln  was.  He  could  quote 
pages  from  many  of  the  plays  and  had  a  very  clear  and  intelli- 
gent opinion  of  the  meaning  of  difficult  passages.  He  was  fond 
of  seeing  the  plays  acted,  and  while  in  Washington  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  never  missed  a  Shakespearean  play 
if  he  could  help  it.  Often  he  sent  for  the  leading  actor  after 
it  was  over  and  discussed  the  arrangement  of  the  play,  amazing 
his  auditors  by  his  knowledge. 

It  was  while  Lincoln  was  studying  Shakespeare  that  there 
fell  into  his  hands  a  set  of  books  which  finally  led  him  to  read 
law.  The  incident  illustrates  very  well  the  eagerness  with 
which  he  always  seized  any  book  which  came  in  his  way  and  the 
avidity  with  which  he  read  it.  Soon  after  Lincoln's  nomination 
to  the  Presidency,  in  i860,  an  ardent  Republican  of  New  Jersey 
sent  A.  J.  Conant,  a  well-known  portrait  painter  of  the  day,  to 
Springfield  to  paint  the  portrait  of  the  party's  nominee.  Mr. 
Conant  confesses  that  he  had  not  expected  to  find  much  of  a 
subject,  for  Lincoln  was  practically  unknown  in  the  East,  and 
he  was  the  more  surprised  to  discover  that  this  new  man  pos- 
sessed a  genuine,  if  unconventional,  intellectual  cultivation.  Ac- 
cordingly, during  the  sittings,  he  took  pains  to  ask  Mr.  Lin- 
coln many  questions  about  his  early  life  in  order  to  find  out, 


xiv  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

if  possible,  what  his  education  had  been.  One  day  he  asked 
Mr.  Lincoln  how  he  became  interested  in  the  law.  "  It  was  Black- 
stone's  '  Commentaries '  that  did  it,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  then 
he  related  how  he  first  happened  on  the  books.  "  I  was  keep- 
ing store  in  New  Salem,  when  one  day  a  man  who  was  migrat- 
ing to  the  West  drove  up  with  a  wagon  which  contained  his 
family  and  household  plunder.  He  asked  me  if  I  would  buy 
an  old  barrel  for  which  he  had  no  room  in  his  wagon,  and 
which  he  said  contained  nothing  of  special  value.  I  did  not 
want  it,  but  to  oblige  him  I  bought  it  and  paid  him,  I  think, 
half  a  dollar.  Without  further  examination  I  put  it  away  in  the 
store  and  forgot  all  about  it.  Sometime  after,  in  overhauling 
things,  I  came  upon  the  barrel  and  emptied  its  contents  upon 
the  floor.  I  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  rubbish  a  complete 
edition  of  Blackstone's  "  Commentaries."  I  began  to  read  those 
famous  works,  and  I  had  plenty  of  time,  for  during  the  long 
summer  days,  when  the  farmers  were  busy  with  their  crops, 
my  customers  were  few  and  far  between.  The  more  I  read  "  — 
this  he  said  with  unusual  emphasis  —  "  the  more  intensely 
interested  I  became.  Never  in  my  whole  life  was  my  mind 
so  thoroughly  absorbed.    I  read  until  I  devoured  them." 

Blackstone  whetted  his  appetite  for  more  law.  Later,  when 
he  had  become  a  lawyer,  a  politician,  a  man  of  family,  the  love 
of  books  remained,  and  he  often  read  late  into  the  night  after  a 
hard  day  at  the  bar,  trying  to  make  up,  he  said,  for  that  chance 
at  an  education  which  he  did  not  have  as  a  boy. 

Lincoln  began  to  write  almost  as  soon  as  to  read.  Many 
doggerels  have  been  preserved  that  he  scrawled  in  his  early 
exercise  books,  such  as 

Good  boys  who  to  their  books  apply, 
Will  all  be  great  men  by  and  bye. 

There  are  also  many  well-authenticated  stories  of  attempts  at 
essays  and  poetry.    Some  of  these  boyish  performances  even 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

found  their  way  into  local  papers,  and  not  a  few  were  pre- 
served by  his  family  and  have  been  published  by  his  earliest 
biographers.  Of  course  they  are  crude,  but  they  all  show  a 
sense  of  the  value  of  words  and  an  evident  pleasure  in  what 
Schurz  calls  the  "  comely  phrase."  They  are  never  meaning- 
less. They  are  never  flat.  They  show  always  that  the  writer 
had  an  idea  of  his  own,  and  that  though  he  might  work  it  out 
blunderingly,  he  nevertheless  had  a  real  feeling  of  the  possi- 
bilities in  his  medium. 

Through  all  the  hard  years  of  his  early  manhood  he  stuck  to 
his  effort  to  express  himself  by  writing.  He  must  have  been 
nearly  twenty  years  old  when  he  began  to  feel  the  need  of 
a  knowledge  of  grammar,  to  realize  that  these  blocks  out  of 
which  he  had  been  building  sentences  intuitively  and  imita- 
tively,  governed  only  by  his  pleasure  in  them  and  by  the  un- 
conscious influence  of  his  reading,  were  really  subject  to 
certain  laws.  He  decided  he  must  know  these  laws,  learn  how  to 
put  words  together  scientifically.  The  familiar  story  of  Lincoln's 
hunt  for  a  grammar,  of  his  impassioned  study  of  it  before  a  fire 
of  stumps  by  night  after  his  long  day's  work,  is  at  once  one 
of  the  most  pathetic  and  most  inspiring  in  the  history  of  his 
intellectual  life. 

By  the  time  Lincoln  was  twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  felt 
himself  sufficiently  master  of  his  medium  to  put  out  his  first 
public  document,  an  address  to  the  people  of  Sangamon  County, 
Illinois,  offering  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  repre- 
sentative to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  state.  This  docu- 
ment is  remarkable  for  its  directness.  Its  author  plunges  at 
once  into  the  subjects  which  he  supposes  most  interesting  to 
his  constituents,  and  states  his  views  in  English  which  bears 
all  the  characteristics  of  his  style  twenty-five  years  later. 

From  1832  on,  throughout  the  rest  of  his  life,  we  have  a 
steady  series  of  addresses  called  out  by  the  events  in  which  he 
was  most  deeply  interestedr   In  addition  to  elaborate  arguments 


xvi  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

such  as  these  are,  Lincoln's  writings  contain  several  remarkable 
short  addresses  for  special  occasions ;  preeminent  among  these 
is  the  Gettysburg  speech. 

He  also  wrote  in  the  course  of  his  life  several  lectures  on 
subjects  quite  out  of  politics.  A  very  good  temperance  lecture 
is  in  this  list,  as  well  as  an  address  on  inventions.  But  while 
the  bulk  of  Lincoln's  work  is  in  the  form  of  addresses,  he  by 
no  means  confined  himself  to  this  species  of  composition.  At 
various  times  in  his  life  he  tried  his  hand  at  essays,  wmich  have 
been  lost ;  he  even  wrote  occasional  verse,  a  little  of  which  has 
been  preserved ;  and  from  the  testimony  of  his  associates  we 
know  that  ideas  for  stories  sometimes  flitted  through  his  head. 

In  Lincoln's  literary  output  nothing  is  better  than  his  letters. 
For  instance,  his  letters  to  his  constituents,  through  which  for 
many  years  he  did  most  of  his  electioneering,  form  a  series 
of  political  documents  as  distinguished  for  their  quaint  phrase- 
ology and  humor  as  for  their  frankness  and  shrewdness ;  and 
those  letters  in  which  he  gave  counsel  to  friends  must  eventu- 
ally become  classic. 

Putting  together  all  his  writings,  —  addresses,  lectures,  public 
and  private  letters,  and  fugitive  expression,  —  the  bulk  of  work 
which  resulted  in  the  course  of  his  life  is  considerable.  His 
complete  works,  edited  by  Nicolay  and  Hay,  contain  fully 
750,000  words. 

Unquestionably  the  most  important  of  Lincoln's  literary  work 
is  the  series  of  speeches  made  between  1854  and  1865,  in  which 
he  developed  his  arguments  against  the  extension  of  slavery,  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  in  favor  of  emancipation. 
The  most  familiar  of  these  are  the  powerful  replies  to  Douglas 
in  1858,  but  they  are  by  no  means  all  which  are  worth  attention. 
The  speech  made  in  1856,  when  he  publicly  severed  his  con- 
nection with  the  old  Whig  party  and  joined  the  newly  founded 
Republican  organization,  is  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  elo- 
quent he  ever  delivered.    It  is  doubtful  if  any  speech  of  his 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

whole  career  produced  such  an  extraordinary  effect.  So  moved 
were  his  audience  that  the  very  reporters  forgot  to  take  notes, 
and  it  was  supposed  until  recently  that  no  notes  of  it  had  been 
preserved.  It  thus  became  known  all  over  Illinois  as  Lincoln's 
"  Lost  Speech."  It  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  a  report  of 
this  speech  has  been  found. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  one  who  did  not  live  through  the  exciting 
decade  before  the  war,  or  who  has  not  made  some  special  study 
of  Lincoln's  life,  realizes  the  effect  of  these  speeches.  They  really 
introduced  him  to  the  nation.  Before  that  he  had  been  an  un- 
known man.  Even  when  he  began  to  debate  with  Douglas  in 
1858  he  was  so  little  known  and  appreciated  that  his  friends  in 
Illinois  were  afraid  of  a  fiasco.  They  could  not  believe  that  this 
great,  gaunt,  friendly  man,  with  his  simple  ways  and  his  modest 
air,  could  match  the  most  brilliant  and  popular  orator  of  the  day. 
But  as  the  debate  went  on,  it  became  clear  to  them  that  Lin- 
coln was  the  stronger.  They  began  to  ask  each  other  if  it  was 
possible  that  Lincoln,  whom  they  had  known  all  their  lives,  with 
whom  they  rode  the  circuit,  told  stories,  and  played  practical 
jokes,  could  be  a  great  man.  They  began  to  receive  letters  from 
the  East,  "  Who  is  this  Lincoln  ?  "  "Do  you  realize,"  wrote  one 
great  man  of  the  day  to  the  chairman  of  the  Republican  com- 
mittee, "that  no  greater  speeches  on  public  questions  have  been 
made  in  the  history  of  our  country,  that  his  knowledge  of  the 
question  is  profound,  his  logic  unanswerable,  his  style  inimi- 
table ? "  Before  the  campaign  was  over,  his  friends  all  made 
up  their  minds  that  Lincoln  was,  in  fact,  a  great  man. 

There  was  so  strong  an  interest  in  him  in  the  East,  awakened 
by  the  debates  with  Douglas,  that  he  was  invited  to  speak  at 
Cooper  Union,  the  greatest  compliment  that  could  be  paid  to 
a  public  speaker  in  that  day. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  audience  was  a  notable  one  even  for  New 
York.  It  included  William  Cullen  Bryant,  who  introduced  him, 
Horace  Greeley,  David  Dudley  Field,  and  many  more  well-known 


xviii  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

men  of  the  day.  It  is  doubtful  if  even  Lincoln's  best  friends 
did  not  fear  that  his  queer  manner  and  quaint  diction  might 
amuse  people  so  much  that  they  would  fail  to  catch  the  weight 
of  his  logic.  But  to  their  surprise  there  was  universal  enthu- 
siasm over  the  intellectual  and  literary  quality  of  the  address. 
Where  has  this  man  learned  his  logic  and  his  English  ?  the 
audience  asked.  The  question  was  a  proper  one,  for  these 
antislavery  speeches  of  Lincoln  are  one  of  the  greatest  intellec- 
tual feats  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  literary  per- 
formances any  American  has  achieved.  To  begin  with,  the 
man  was  saturated  with  his  subject,  —  the  very  essential  of 
any  great  literary  performance.  He  had  studied  it,  handled  it, 
lived  with  it,  until  when  he  came  to  present  it  he  constructed 
an  argument  which  was  practically  flawless.  He  was  like  a 
master  builder  putting  up  the  framework  of  a  great  building. 
Every  timber  fits,  every  nail  goes  into  the  exact  spot  where  it 
is  needed,  and  no  useless  nail  is  driven.  It  is  a  strong,  well- 
proportioned,  sound  framework.  Now  the  flawless  argument 
is  the  very  life  of  a  piece  of  literature,  for  it  is  that  which 
makes  the  appeal  to  the  intellect.  Let  the  argument  be  incom- 
plete, shifty,  interlaid  with  shams  or  tricks,  and  the  intellect  will 
not  give  its  complete  assent.  The  thing  is  not  "  convincing," 
we  say  to-day.  Now  Lincoln  was  always  convincing  in  his  anti- 
slavery  addresses  and  letters.  So  sound  was  he  that  no  trick 
of  oratory,  no  subtility  of  argument,  no  brutality  of  attack  on 
Douglas's  part  could  surprise  him  in  the  debates.  His  later 
work  was  equally  strong  in  its  logic. 

Had  not  Lincoln  worked  as  steadily  and  as  hard  on  his  ex- 
pression as  he  did  on  his  argument,  the  effect  of  his  anti- 
slavery  speeches  and  letters  would  have  been  less  immediate 
and  less  general.  But  he  had  constant  thought  of  his  form.  He 
wanted  to  be  "  clear,"  he  said.  Unless  he  could  be  easily  un- 
derstood he  knew  he  could  not  easily  persuade,  and  it  was  for 
this  he  struggled  throughout  his  public  life,  with  the  result  that 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

a  style  more  lucid  than  that  which  he  had  achieved  before  his 
death  is  scarcely  conceivable.  I  doubt  if  it  was  the  supreme 
elegance  of  clear  and  simple  forms  of  expression  which  caused 
Lincoln  to  cultivate  this  style,  though  unquestionably  he  had  an 
instinctive  feeling  for  the  simple  expression.  He  was  rather 
driven  to  it  by  what  was  in  him  an  intellectual  necessity.  He 
had  a  mind  which  was  never  quiet  until  it  had  solved  to  its  own 
satisfaction  the  questions  with  which  it  struggled.  Even  in  his 
boyhood  days  his  companions  noticed  that  he  constantly  was 
searching  for  the  reason  of  things  and  that  he  "  explained  so 
clearly."  To  a  friend  who  asked  him  once  how  he  had  achieved 
his  pure  style  he  said :  "  When  a  mere  child,  I  used  to  get 
irritated  when  anybody  talked  to  me  in  a  way  I  could  not 
understand.  I  do  not  think  that  I  ever  got  angry  at  anything 
else  in  my  life ;  but  that  always  disturbed  my  temper,  and  has 
ever  since.  I  can  remember  going  to  my  little  bedroom,  after 
hearing  the  neighbors  talk  of  an  evening  with  my  father,  and 
spending  no  small  part  of  the  night  walking  up  and  down, 
trying  to  make  out  what  was  the  exact  meaning  of  some  of 
their,  to  me,  dark  sayings. 

"  I  could  not  sleep  when  I  got  on  such  a  hunt  for  an  idea 
until  I  had  caught  it ;  and  when  I  thought  I  had  got  it,  I  was 
not  satisfied  until  I  had  put  it  in  a  language  plain  enough,  as  I 
thought,  for  any  boy  to  comprehend.  This  was  a  kind  of  a  pas- 
sion with  me,  and  it  has  stuck  by  me ;  for  I  am  never  easy 
now,  when  I  am  handling  a  thought,  till  I  have  bounded  it 
north,  and  bounded  it  south,  and  bounded  it  east,  and  bounded 
it  west." 

This  is  exactly  what  he  did  in  his  public  speeches  and  letters. 
When  he  had  found  what  seemed  to  him  the  truth  of  a  subject, 
he  tried  to  put  it  into  a  form  so  simple  that  nobody  could 
mistake  his  meaning.  He  stated  his  case  with  mathematical 
exactness,  in  the  fewest  words  possible,  and  always  with  the 
simplest  words.    The  result  was  that  his  statements  of  what 


XX  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

he  considered  the  vital  points  in  any  great  question  are  really 
axioms.  In  the  debates  with  Douglas,  for  example,  his  vital 
arguments  were  condensed  into  a  few  phrases  which  appear 
again  and  again.  The  most  notable  example  is  probably  the 
famous  paragraph  of  his  first  speech  in  the  campaign,  where  he 
stated  the  position  on  which  he  intended  to  stand  in  the  contest. 

"  ?  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe  this 
government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free. 
I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved  —  I  do  not  expect 
the  house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided. 
It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  all  the  other." 

But  while  the  appeal  to  the  intellect  is  so  strong  in  Lincoln's 
literary  work,  the  appeal  to  the  emotions  is  hardly  less.  He 
could  move  the  heart  to  its  depths.  Again  and  again  in  his 
public  career  he  poured  forth  his  emotions  in  words  so  elevated, 
in  imagery  so  lofty,  that  the  effect  can  only  be  compared  to 
that  of  some  noble  sacred  poem.  Take  for  instance,  the  clos- 
ing paragraphs  of  the  Second  Inaugural : 

"Fondly  do  we  hope  —  fervently  do  we  pray  —  that  this 
mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God 
wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid 
by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand 
years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said,  *  The  judgments  of  the  Lord 
are  true  and  righteous  altogether.' 

"  With  malice  toward  none ;  with  charity  for  all ;  with  firm- 
ness in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive 
on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in  ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds  ; 
to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his 
widow,  and  his  orphan  —  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish 
a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations." 

The  same  lofty  feeling  and  imagery  characterize  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  speech.    In  this  speech,  universally  acknowledged 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

to  be  one  of  the  most  perfect  bits  of  English  prose  ever  written, 
we  have  Lincoln's  clearness  of  expression  admirably  illustrated, 
while  the  sympathetic  charm  which  pervades  it  thrills  the  heart 
to-day  as  deeply  as  it  did  forty  years  ago. 

But  Lincoln's  English  has  something  in  it  besides  its  clear- 
ness and  its  loftiness.  It  has  a  delightful  original  flavor,  dis- 
tinctive and  natural,  untainted  by  conventional  culture,  which 
having  once  caught  you  always  recognize.  In  no  particular  is 
this  originality  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  quaint  figures  of 
speech  with  which  he  illustrates  his  meaning.  It  was  the  fash- 
ion of  his  time  to  seek  metaphors  and  other  embellishments  in 
the  classics.  "  He  never  went  among  the  ancients  for  figures," 
he  used  to  say.  Instead  he  drew  them  from  his  own  experi- 
ence. That  experience  had  been  humble  enough,  but  it  yielded 
in  his  hands  a  fruitful  crop  of  powerful  illustrations.  Some  of 
the  most  typical  of  these  occur  in  his  dispatches  to  officers  dur- 
ing the  war.  Such  was  his  dispatch  to  Hooker  in  June,  1863. 
Fearing  that  Hooker  might  cross  to  the  south  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock and  give  Lee  a  chance  to  get  behind  the  Federals,  he 
wrote,  l;t  I  would  not  take  any  risk  of  being  entangled  up  on 
the  river,  like  an  ox  jumped  half  over  a  fence  and  liable  to  be 
torn  by  dogs  front  and  rear  without  a  fair  chance  to  gore  one 
way  or  kick  the  other."  Equally  pertinent  was  his  message 
sent  a  few  days  later  to  the  same  general :  "  If  the  head  of 
Lee's  army  is  at  Martinsburg,  and  the  tail  of  it  on  the  plank 
road  between  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  the  animal 
must  be  very  slim  somewhere.  Could  you  not  break  him  ?  "  — 
and  nothing  could  have  been  better  than  his  advice  to  Grant 
in  1864,  —  "  Hold  on  with  a  bulldog  grip,  and  chew  and  choke 
as  much  as  possible." 

Lincoln's  private  letters  are  all  marked  by  this  distinctive 
personal  style.  There  have  been  published  a  series  of  letters  to 
a  stepbrother  who  must  have  been  a  shiftless  fellow,  which  are 
as  good  examples  of  well-put  common  sense  as  anything  Poor 


xxii  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Richard  himself  ever  gave  us.  His  letter  to  General  Hooker  in 
January,  1863,  when  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
was  given  into  his  charge,  is  a  perfect  example  of  the  wise  and 
kindly,  yet  firm,  writing  which  Lincoln  could  employ  when  he 
thought  best. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  now  as  we  study  Lincoln's  life  that  his 
mastery  of  expression  was  of  incalculable  value  in  dealing  with 
the  terrible  problems  of  a  Civil  War  President.  For  instance, 
his  aptness  in  illustrating  his  meaning  by  stories  and  figures 
solved  many  a  problem  for  the  country.  At  first  men  com- 
plained at  what  they. called  his  triviality,  his  buffonery.  What 
right  had  the  President  of  the  LTnited  States  to  tell  stories  and 
laugh  when  the  country  was  at  war?  Yet  gradually  the  dis- 
cerning began  to  see  that  every  one  of  his  stories  settled  a 
question.  Frequently,  when  the  Cabinet  was  perplexed  and 
fearful,  it  was  one  of  Lincoln's  stories  which  broke  its  tense, 
irritable  mood,  clearing  up  doubt  and  torment  as  a  shower 
clears  the  hot  overburdened  air.  Again  and  again,  commis- 
sions of  good  but  narrow  men  came  to  him  to  present  a  theory 
which,  if  adopted,  they  were  sure  would  alone  end  the  war,  free 
the  slave,  satisfy  the  South,  and  restore  happiness.  The  Presi- 
dent simply  told  them  a  story  and  they  filed  out  without  a  word, 
the  theory  shattered  in  their  hands.  These  stories  were  not 
classic.  They  were  not  drawn  from  literature  or  history ;  fre- 
quently they  were  coarse  in  grain.  They  came  straight  from 
raw  human  life  as  Lincoln  had  observed  it,  were  full  of  humor, 
not  unlike  that  of  Rabelais,  and  of  homely  pioneer  picturesque- 
ness ;  but  they  were  profound  in  their  philosophy  and  truth- 
fulness, and  no  argument  he  or  any  other  could  have  advanced 
would  have  had  their  convincing  force. 

The  source  of  his  inexhaustible  supply  of  stories  was  always 
a  mystery  to  his  associates.  Did  he  invent  them  ?  If  not,  where 
did  he  get  them  ?  The  greater  majority  no  doubt  dated  back  to 
his  early  life  in  Illinois  when,  as  a  postmaster  and  a  surveyor, 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

and  later  as  an  itinerant  lawyer  and  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
State  Assembly,  he  met  constantly  large  numbers  of  quaint  and 
original  people,  and  when  he  was  thrown  much  with  a  class  of 
men  who,  for  lack  of  other  amusements,  entertained  one  another 
with  stories.  A  new  story  in  a  community  like  that  in  which 
Lincoln  spent  his  earlier  manhood  has  an  importance  not  unlike 
that  of  a  new  play  or  a  new  book  in  a  town  of  to-day.  Every- 
body wants  to  hear  it,  and  hearing  it,  everybody  discusses  it 
and  passes  judgment  on  it.  In  Springfield,  where  Lincoln  lived 
at  this  period,  nobody  was  more  eager  than  he  to  hear  each 
man's  new  stories.  Let  one  of  his  friends  go  away  for  a  trip, 
and  his  first  greeting  on  the  man's  return  would  be,  "  Any  new 
stories  ? "  And  if  the  answer  was  affirmative,  everything  must 
wait  until  he  heard  them.  If  they  pleased  him,  forthwith  they 
were  added  to  his  repertoire.  He  rarely  told  a  story,  however, 
simply  for  the  sake  of  telling  it.  To  him  it  was  an  argument  or 
explanation,  sometimes  even  an  exhortation.  And  because  he 
told  it  simply  to  illustrate,  he  rarely  told  it  twice  alike.  In  order 
to  make  it  serve  his  purpose  he  was  obliged  to  work  it  over, 
dressing  it  in  new  colors  and  giving  the  characters  new  sur- 
roundings, so  as  to  make  them  more  suitable  to  his  immediate 
object.  It  thus  happens  that  there  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  an 
original  version  of  a"  Lincoln  story."  For  example,  the  story 
of  Sykes's  dog  is  well  known  to  most  of  us.  Sykes  owned  an 
ill-favored  cur  to  which  he  was  devoted  but  which,  because  of  its 
ugly  looks  and  its  propensity  for  worrying  inoffensive  pedestrians, 
was  heartily  despised  by  his  friends.  One  day  a  few  desperate 
individuals  induced  Sykes's  dog  to  swallow  a  piece  of  meat  in 
which  a  charge  of  gunpowder  with  fuse  attached  was  concealed. 
The  meat  was  no  sooner  down  than  the  fuse  was  lighted  and 
the  dog  was  scattered  over  the  road.  When  Sykes  came  up  and 
saw  the  situation  he  made  a  feeble  effort  to  collect  the  pieces, 
but  soon  gave  it  up,  remarking  sorrowfully  that  he  guessed  that 
dog's  days  of  usefulness  were  ended.    After  the  capture  of 


xxiv  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Vicksburg  a  delegation  waited  on  Mr.  Lincoln  complaining  be- 
cause Grant  had  paroled  Pemberton's  army.  Pemberton,  they 
said,  would  soon  have  the  men  together  again.  Mr.  Lincoln  did 
not  attempt  to  argue  with  them.  He  simply  told  them  the  story 
of  Sykes's  dog,  remarking,  as  he  ended,  that  he  guessed  Pember- 
ton's army  was  in  about  the  same  condition  as  the  dog.  He 
told  the  same  story  on  other  occasions  when  delegations  came 
to  him  to  criticize  the  paroling  of  Confederate  troops.  Each 
time,  if  we  believe  his  auditors,  the  story  had  its  peculiar  color. 
Thus  there  were  several  authentic  versions  of  the  one  story. 

Match  a  highly  disciplined  intellect  with  an  equally  disciplined 
moral  sense  and  you  have  conduct  of  the  highest  order,  and 
that  is  what  we  find  in  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  could  do  more 
than  solve  problems,  he  could  fit  his  conduct  to  the  solution. 
And  this  moral  discipline  was  as  much  the  result  of  training 
from  boyhood  as  his  intellectual  discipline.  He  had  a  keen  notion 
of  right  and  wrong  as  a  boy,  and  was  willing  to  fight  for  what 
he  believed  right ;  although  he  was  by  no  means  a  fighting  boy. 
On  the  contrary,  he  was  peaceable  and  companionable,  loving 
games,  tests  of  strength,  talk,  debates,  jokes,  —  jokes  so  rough 
that  they  might  often  be  called  horseplay. 

All  the  stories  left  us  of  his  early  life,  however,  show  that 
while  he  would  not  fight  for  the  sake  of  fighting,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  show  his  power  where  it  was  a  case  of  injustice. 
There  is  a  story  of  his  defeat  of  the  leader  of  a  gang  of  bad 
boys  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  early  home  in  Sangamon 
County,  which  may  be  regarded  as  typical  of  his  attitude.  His 
thrashing  of  the  leader  of  the  Clary's  Grove  gang  brought 
him  great  honor  in  the  community,  and  certainly  made  for  the 
future  order  and  peace  of  the  neighborhood. 

He  not  only  had  a  contempt  for  the  bully,  but  sympathy  with 
the  weak.  So  far  as  we  know,  Lincoln's  first  active  sympathy 
with  the  condition  of  the  negro  came  from  a  visit  to  a  slave 
market  in  New  Orleans.    All  that  he  saw  in  his  youth  of  the 


INTRODUCTION  xxv 

outside  world  came  from  an  occasional  trip  on  a  flatboat  down 
the  Mississippi  River  to  New  Orleans.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
these  trips  were  a  real  factor  in  the  education  of  this  wide- 
awake boy.  It  was  on  one  of  these  trips  that  he  visited  a  slave 
market,  and  his  impressions  were  so  strong  that  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  he  often  referred  to  the  experience  in  discussing 
the  slave  question  in  after  years.  Thus  his  sympathies  had  been 
early  stirred  on  the  question ;  so  that  when  the  time  came  that 
he  had  an  opportunity  to  express  himself,  as  it  did  first  in 
1837,  he  was  the  quicker  to  do  it.  He  not  only  had  an  intel- 
lectual conviction  that  slavery  was  wrong,  but  he  had  the  back- 
ing of  his  emotions.  Nevertheless,  it  must  have  taken  a  great 
deal  of  courage  to  sign  a  public  protest  against  the  institution 
as  early  as  he  did.  He  was  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age  and 
a  member  of  the  Illinois  legislature.  Resolutions  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  assembly  disapproving  of  the  formation  of 
abolition  societies,  declaring  that  the  right  of  property  in  slaves 
was  sacred,  and  that  the  general  government  could  not  fairly 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  without  the  consent 
of  the  citizens  of  the  District.  Lincoln  and  one  of  his  fellow 
representatives  were  the  only  members  of  the  body  to  protest 
against  these  resolutions.  It  is  not  the  first  proof  that  we  have 
that  he  was  already  courageous  enough  to  fit  his  conduct  to 
his  convictions,  but  it  is  certainly  the  most  decisive.  From  this 
time  his  political  courage  and  consistency  showed  itself  in  many 
different  ways.  He  was  in  Congress  when  the  Mexican  War 
broke  out ;  and  his  condemnation  of  the  course  of  the  United 
States  towards  Mexico  in  this  unjust  and  unnecessary  war, 
shows  what  kind  of  material  he  was  made  of.  He  had  to  sub- 
mit to  very  severe  criticism,  even  from  many  of  his  best  friends 
in  Illinois,  for  his  course,  but  it  only  made  him  the  more  effec- 
tive in  his  opposition. 

Lincoln's  moral  courage  in  public  life  had  a  severe  test  in  the 
'50's  when  the  slave  question  became  acute.    He  had  practically 


xxvi  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

given  up  politics  when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
aroused  him  as  nothing  before  ever  had.  He  immediately  began 
to  discuss  the  question  in  public  and  private.  And  very  early  in 
these  discussions,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  which  later  became 
the  backbone  of  his  great  debate  with  Douglas  :  that  the  country 
could  not  exist  half  slave  and  half  free ;  that  it  must  be  all  one 
thing,  or  all  the  other.  It  was  a  most  unpopular  doctrine  in  his 
own  party,  the  Whig,  and  he  found  himself  lined  up  with  a  few 
bolting  Whigs  and  Democrats,  the  nucleus  which,  in  1856, 
formed  itself  into  the  Republican  Party.  Ardent  Whig  that  he 
had  been,  the  break  was  a  serious  matter  to  Mr.  Lincoln ;  and 
he  did  not  make  it  until  he  was  convinced  it  was  only  through  a 
new  organization  that  the  advance  of  slavery  could  be  stopped. 
Perhaps  no  more  impressive  proof  of  Lincoln's  fidelity  to 
principle  is  found  in  his  whole  career  than  his  refusal,  in  his 
debate  with  Douglas,  to  allow  his  opponent  to  manipulate  his 
argument  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  mean  one  thing  in  the 
North  and  another  thing  in  the  South.  Mr.  Lincoln  insisted  on 
asking  questions  of  Douglas  which  made  it  possible  for  the 
latter  to  satisfy  the  people  of  Illinois  that  he  was  sound  on  the 
slavery  question.  The  result  was  that  he  was  elected,  Lincoln 
defeated.  But  these  answers  which  satisfied  Illinois  dissatisfied 
the  South.  They  were  in  contradiction  with  what  Douglas  had 
persuaded  the  South  that  he  believed.  Lincoln  showed  the 
country  that  Douglas  "  was  carrying  water  on  both  shoulders." 
Lincoln  realized  what  he  was  doing,  but  he  persisted  in  asking 
the  questions  which  helped  his  own  defeat,  because  he  was 
determined  to  do  his  part  in  making  the  people  of  the  country 
understand  the  question  at  issue.  That  is,  he  held  it  of  more 
importance  that  the  country  should  be  clear  in  its  views  and 
sound  in  its  conclusions,  than  that  he  should  be  elected,  or 
that  his  party  be  successful.  He  showed,  in  fact,  the  highest 
order  of  political  morality.  And  that  such  political  morality  is 
in  the  long  run  the  best  of  policies,  the  fact  of  his  nomination 


INTRODUCTION  xxvii 

and  election  to  the  presidency,  two  years  later,  is  good  enough 
evidence. 

There  is  no  episode  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  which  is  better  evidence  of  his  funda- 
mental sense  of  justice  than  his  efforts,  early  in  the  war,  to 
bring  about  what  is  called  compensated  emancipation  ;  that  is,  to 
persuade  Congress  to  buy  and  free  the  slaves  of  the  Southern 
states.  He  saw  very  clearly  that  emancipation  would  probably 
be  the  result  of  the  war  to  save  the  Union.  He  saw  that  it 
might  be  necessary  as  a  war  measure.  He  revolted  against  the 
idea  of  'confiscating  the  property  of  the  South,  though  that  prop- 
erty might  be  in  men.  Therefore  he  worked  out  the  plan  of 
buying  the  blacks.  I  doubt  if  there  was  any  experience  of 
his  career  as  President  of  the  United  States  which  gave  him 
greater  regret  than  the  failure  of  this  measure.  The  whole 
episode  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  humanity  and  sense  of 
justice  which  underlay  all  of  his  public  policy,  —  qualities,  which, 
as  I  have  said,  had  their  foundation  in  his  youth,  and  which 
were  as  logical  an  outcome  of  the  moral  training  which  he  gave 
himself  as  his  power  of  logical  thought  and  of  clear  and  elo- 
quent expression  were  the  results  of  his  intellectual  training. 

Ida  M.  Tarbell 


SELECTIONS  FROM 

THE  LETTERS,  SPEECHES,  AND  STATE 

PAPERS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


VIEWS  ON  MONEY-LOANING,  EDUCATION,  AND 

LAWMAKING 

(Extract  from  first  public  address,  March  i,  1832.   Age,  23  years) 

...  It  appears  that  the  practice  of  loaning  money  at  exor- 
bitant rates  of  interest  has  already  been  opened  as  a  field  for 
discussion ;  so  I  suppose  I  may  enter  upon  it  without  claiming 
the  honor,  or  risking  the  danger  which  may  await  its  first 
explorer.  It  seems  as  though  we  are  never  to  have  an  end  to  5 
this  baneful  and  corroding  system,  acting  almost  as  prejudicially 
to  the  general  interests  of  the  community  as  a  direct  tax  of 
several  thousand  dollars  annually  laid  on  each  county  for  the 
benefit  of  a  few  individuals  only,  unless  there  be  a  law  made 
fixing  the  limits  of  usury.  A  law  for  this  purpose,  I  am  of  10 
opinion,  may  be  made  without  materially  injuring  any  class 
of  people.  In  cases  of  extreme  necessity,  there  could  always  be 
means  found  to  cheat  the  law ;  while  in  all  other  cases  it  would 
have  its  intended  effect.  I  would  favor  the  passage  of  a  law  on 
this  subject  which  might  not  be  very  easily  evaded.  Let  it  be  15 
such  that  the  labor  and  difficulty  of  evading  it  could  only  be 
justified  in  cases  of  greatest  necessity. 

Upon  the  subject  of  education,  not  presuming  to  dictate  any 
plan  or  system  respecting  it,  I  can  only  say  that  I  view  it  as 
the  most  important  subject  which  we  as  a  people  can  be  engaged  20 
in.  That  every  man  may  receive  at  least  a  moderate  education, 
and  thereby  be  enabled  to  read  the  histories  of  his  own  and 
other  countries,  by  which  he  may  duly  appreciate  the  value  of 
our  free  institutions,  appears  to  be  an  object  of  vital  importance, 
even  on  this  account  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the  advantages  25 
and  satisfaction  to  be  derived  from  all  being  able  to  read  the 

3 


4  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

Scriptures,  and  other  works  both  of  a  religious  and  moral  nature, 
for  themselves. 

For  my  part,  I  desire  to  see  the  time  when  education  —  and 
by  its  means,  morality,  sobriety,  enterprise,  and  industry  —  shall 
5  become  much  more  general  than  at  present,  and  should  be 
gratified  to  have  it  in  my  power  to  contribute  something  to  the 
advancement  of  any  measure  which  might  have  a  tendency  to 
accelerate  that  happy  period. 

With  regard  to  existing  laws,  some  alterations  are  thought  to 

io  be  necessary.  Many  respectable  men  have  suggested  that  our 
estray  laws,  the  law  respecting  the  issuing  of  executions,  the 
road  law,  and  some  others,  are  deficient  in  their  present  form, 
and  require  alterations.  But,  considering  the  great  probability 
that  the  f ramers  of  those  laws  were  wiser  than  mvself ,  I  should 

15  prefer  not  meddling  with  them,  unless  they  were  first  attacked 
by  others ;  in  which  case  I  should  feel  it  both  a  privilege  and  a 
duty  to  take  that  stand  which,  in  my  view,  might  tend  most  to 
the  advancement  of  justice. 

But,  fellow  citizens,  I  shall  conclude.   Considering  the  great  de- 

20  gree  of  modesty  which  should  always  attend  youth,  it  is  probable 
I  have  already  been  more  presuming  than  becomes  me.  However, 
upon  the  subjects  of  which  I  have  treated,  I  have  spoken  as  I 
have  thought.  I  may  be  wrong  in  regard  to  any  or  all  of  them  ; 
but,  holding  it  a  sound  maxim  that  it  is  better  only  sometimes  to 

25  be  right  than  at  all  times  to  be  wrong,  so  soon  as  I  discover  my 
opinions  to  be  erroneous,  I  shall  be  ready  to  renounce  them. 

Every  man  is  said  to  have  his  peculiar  ambition.  Whether  it 
be  true  or  not,  I  can  say,  for  one,  that  I  have  no  other  so  great 
as  that  of  being  truly  esteemed  of  my  fellow  men,  by  rendering 

30  myself  worthy  of  their  esteem.  How  far  I  shall  succeed  in 
gratifying  this  ambition  is  yet  to  be  developed.  I  am  young, 
and  unknown  to  many  of  you.  I  was  born,  and  have  ever 
remained,  in  the  most  humble  walks  of  life.  I  have  no  wealthy  or 
popular  relations  or  friends  to  recommend  me.   My  case  is  thrown 


POLITICAL  VIEWS  IN  1836  5 

exclusively  upon  the  independent  voters  of  the  country ;  and,  if 
elected,  they  will  have  conferred  a  favor  upon  me  for  which  I  shall 
be  unremitting  in  my  labors  to  compensate.  But,  if  the  good 
people  in  their  wisdom  shall  see  fit  to  keep  me  in  the  background, 
I  have  been  too  familiar  with  disappointments  to  be  very  much  5 
chagrined. 

POLITICAL  VIEWS  IN  1836 

(Age,   27   years) 

™  -^  r  New  Salem,  Tune  13,  1836 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Journal  : 

In  your  paper  of  last  Saturday  I  see  a  communication,  over 
the  signature  of  "  Many  Voters,"  in  which  the  candidates  who 
are  announced  in  the  Journal  are  called  upon  to  "  show  their 
hands."    Agreed.    Here 's  mine.  10 

I  go  for  all  sharing  the  privileges  of  the  government  who 
assist  in  bearing  its  burdens.  Consequently,  I  go  for  admitting 
all  whites  to  the  right  of  suffrage  who  pay  taxes  or  bear  arms 
(by  no  means  excluding  females). 

If  elected,  I  shall  consider  the  whole  people  of  Sangamon  my  15 
constituents,  as  well  those  that  oppose  as  those  that  support  me. 

While  acting  as  their  representative,  I  shall  be  governed  by 
their  will  on  all  subjects  upon  which  I  have  the  means  of  know- 
ing what  their  will  is ;  and  upon  all  others  I  shall  do  what  my 
own  judgment  teaches  me  will  best  advance  their  interests.  20 
Whether  elected  or  not,  I  go  for  distributing  the  proceeds  of 
the  sales  of  the  public  lands  to  the  several  states,  to  enable 
our  state,  in  common  with  others,  to  dig  canals  and  construct 
railroads  without  borrowing  money  and  paying  the  interest  on  it. 

If  alive  on  the  first  Monday  in  November,  I  shall  vote  for  25 

Hugh  L.  White  for  President.*       ^T  .  „ 

Very  respectfully 

A.  Lincoln 

*  Judge  Hugh  L.  White,  Democratic  Senator  from  Tennessee,  1825  to 
1839,  was  nominated   by  a  combination   of  Whigs   and  anti-Jackson 


6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

FIRST  PUBLIC  PROTEST  AGAINST  SLAVERY 

(March  3,   1837.    Age,  2S  years) 

The  following  protest  was  presented  to  the  House  March  3, 
1837,  which  was  read  and  ordered  to  be  spread  on  the  journals, 
to  wit : 

Resolutions  upon  the  subject  of  domestic  slavery  having  passed 

5  both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly  at  its  present  session, 

the  undersigned  hereby  protest  against  the  passage  of  the  same. 

They  believe  that  the  institution  of  slavery  is  founded  on 

both  injustice  and   bad  policy,  but  that  the  promulgation  of 

abolition  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than  abate  its  evils. 

10       They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  no 

power  under  the  Constitution  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of 

slavery  in  the  different  states. 

They  believe  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  the 
power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
15  of   Columbia,  but  that  the  power  ought  not  to  be  exercised, 
unless  at  the  request  of  the  people  of  the  District. 

The  difference  between  these  opinions  and  those  contained 
in  the  said  resolutions  is  their  reason  for  entering  this  protest.* 

Dan  Stone 
A.  Lincoln 
Representatives  from  the  county  of  Sangamon 

Democrats  for  President  in  1836.    He  received  the  electoral  votes  of 

Tennessee  and  Georgia. 

*  The  resolutions  protested  against  were  as  follows  : 

"  Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Illinois  : 

M  That  we  highly  disapprove  of  the  formation  of  Abolition  Societies, 

and  of  the  doctrines  promulgated  by  them. 

"  That  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  is  sacred  to  the  slaveholding 

States  by  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  that  they  cannot  be  deprived  of 

that  right  without  their  consent. 

"  That  the  General  Government  cannot  abolish  slavery  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  against  the  consent  of  the  citizens  of  said  District, 

without  a  manifest  breach  of  good  faith. 


LETTER  TO  WILLIAMSON   DURLEY  7 

LETTER  TO  WILLIAMSON  DURLEY 

Springfield,  October  3,  1845 

When  I  saw  you  at  home,  it  was  agreed  that  I  should  write 
to  you  and  your  brother  Madison.  Until  I  then  saw  you  I  was 
not  aware  of  your  being  what  is  generally  called  an  abolitionist, 
or,  as  you  call  yourself,  a  Liberty  man,  though  I  well  knew 
there  were  many  such  in  your  country.  5 

I  was  glad  to  hear  that  you  intended  to  attempt  to  bring 
about,  at  the  next  election  in  Putnam,  a  union  of  the  Whigs 
proper  and  such  of  the  Liberty  men  as  are  Whigs  in  principle 
on  all  questions  save  only  that  of  slavery.  So  far  as  I  can  per- 
ceive, by  such  union  neither  party  need  yield  anything  on  the  10 
point  in  difference  between  them.  If  the  Whig  abolitionists  of 
New  York  had  voted  with  us  last  fall,  Mr.  Clay  would  now  be 
President.  Whig  principles  in  the  ascendant,  and  Texas  not 
annexed ;  whereas,  by  the  division,  all  that  either  had  at  stake 
in  the  contest  was  lost.  And,  indeed,  it  was  extremely  probable  15 
beforehand,  that  such  would  be  the  result.  As  I  have  always 
understood,  the  Liberty  men  deprecated  the  annexation  of  Texas 
extremely ;  and  this  being  so,  why  they  should  refuse  to  cast 
their  votes  [so]  as  to  prevent  it,  even  to  me  seemed  wonderful. 
What  was  their  process  of  reasoning,  I  can  only  judge  from  20 
what  a  single  one  of  them  told  me.  It  was  this :  "  We  are  not 
to  do  evil  that  good  may  come."  This  general  proposition  is 
doubtless  correct ;  but  did  it  apply  ?  If  by  your  votes  you  could 
have  prevented  the  extension,  etc.,  of  slavery  would  it  not  have 
been  good,  and  not  evil,  so  to  have  used  your  votes,  even  though  25 
it  involved  the  casting  of  them  for  a  slaveholder  ?  By  the  fruit 
the  tree  is  to  be  known.  An  evil  tree  cannot  bring  forth 
good  fruit.    If  the  fruit  of  electing  Mr.  Clay  would  have  been 

"  That  the  Governor  be  requested  to  transmit  to  the  States  of  Vir- 
ginia, Alabama,  Mississippi,  New  York,  and  Connecticut  a  copy  of  the 
foregoing  report  and  resolutions." 


8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  prevent  the  extension  of  slavery,  could  the  act  of  electing 
have  been  evil  ? 

But  I  will  not  argue  further.  I  perhaps  ought  to  say  that 
individually  I  never  was  much  interested  in  the  Texas  question. 
5  I  never  could  see  much  good  to  come  of  annexation,  inasmuch 
as  they  were  already  a  free  republican  people  on  our  own 
model.  On  the  other  hand,  I  never  could  very  clearly  see  how 
the  annexation  would  augment  the  evil  of  slavery.  It  always 
seemed  to  me  that  slaves  would  be  taken  there  in  about  equal 

10  numbers,  with  or  without  annexation.  And  if  more  were  taken 
because  of  annexation,  still  there  would  be  just  so  many  the 
fewer  left  where  they  were  taken  from.  It  is  possibly  true,  to 
some  extent  that  with  annexation,  some  slaves  may  be  sent  to 
Texas  and  continued  in  slavery  that  otherwise  might  have  been 

15  liberated.  To  whatever  extent  this  may  be  true,  I  think  annex- 
ation an  evil.  I  hold  it  to  be  a  paramount  duty  of  us  in  the  free 
states,  due  to  the  union  of  the  states,  and  perhaps  to  liberty 
itself  (paradox  though  it  may  seem),  to  let  the  slavery  of  the 
other  states  alone ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  I  hold  it  to  be 

20  equally  clear  that  we  should  never  knowingly  lend  ourselves, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  prevent  that  slavery  from  dying  a  natural 
death  —  to  find  new  places  for  it  to  live  in,  when  it  can  no  longer 
exist  in  the  old.  Of  course  I  am  not  now  considering  what  would 
be  our  duty  in  cases  of  insurrection  among  the  slaves.    To  recur 

25  to  the  Texas  question,  I  understand  the  Liberty  men  to  have 
viewed  annexation  as  a  much  greater  evil  than  ever  I  did,  and 
I  would  like  to  convince  you,  if  I  could,  that  they  could  have 
prevented  it,  if  they  had  chosen. 

I  intend  this  letter  for  you  and  Madison  together,  and  if  you 

30  and  he,  or  either,  shall  think  fit  to  drop  me  a  line,  I  shall  be 

pleased. 

Yours  with  respect 

A.  Lincoln 


LETTER  TO  WILLIAM  H.  HERNDON  9 

LETTER  TO  WILLIAM  H.  HERNDON,  HIS  LAW 

PARTNER,  REPROVING   HIM   FOR 

SUSPICION  OF  OTHERS 

Washington,  July  10,  1848 
Dear  William  : 

Your  letter  covering  the  newspaper  slips  was  received  last 
night.  The  subject  of  that  letter  is  exceedingly  painful  to  me ; 
and  I  cannot  but  think  there  is  some  mistake  in  your  impres- 
sion of  the  motives  of  the  old  men.  I  suppose  I  am  now  one 
of  -the  old  men ;  and  I  declare,  on  my  veracity,  which  I  think  is  5 
good  with  you,  that  nothing  could  afford  me  more  satisfaction 
than  to  learn  that  you  and  others  of  my  young  friends  at  home 
are  doing  battle  in  the  contest,  and  endearing  themselves  to  the 
people,  and  taking  a  stand  far  above  any  I  have  ever  been  able 
to  reach  in  their  admiration.  I  cannot  conceive  that  other  old  10 
men  feel  differently.  Of  course  I  cannot  demonstrate  what  I 
say ;  but  I  was  young  once,  and  I  am  sure  I  was  never  ungen- 
erously thrust  back.  I  hardly  know  what  to  say.  The  way  for 
a  young  man  to  rise  is  to  improve  himself  every  way  he  can, 
never  suspecting  that  anybody  wishes  to  hinder  him.  Allow  me  1 5 
to  assure  you  that  suspicion  and  jealousy  never  did  help  any 
man  in  any  situation.  There  may  sometimes  be  ungenerous  at- 
tempts to  keep  a  young  man  down ;  and  they  will  succeed,  too, 
if  he  allows  his  mind  to  be  diverted  from  its  true  channel  to 
brood  over  the  attempted  injury.  Cast  about,  and  see  if  this  20 
feeling  has  not  injured  every  person  you  have  ever  known  to 
fall  into  it. 

Now,  in  what  I  have  said,  I  am  sure  you  will  suspect  nothing 
but  sincere  friendship.  I  would  save  you  from  a  fatal  error. 
You  have  been  a  laborious,  studious  young  man.  You  are  far  25 
better  informed  on  almost  all  subjects  than  I  have  ever  been. 
You  cannot  fail  in  any  laudable  object,  unless  you  allow  your 
mind  to  be  improperly  directed.    I  have  somewhat  the  advantage 


IO  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

of  you  in  the  world's  experience,  merely  by  being  older;  and 
it  is  this  that  induces  me  to  advise. 

Your  friend,  as  ever 

A.  Lincoln 

REFLECTIONS  ON  SEEING  NIAGARA  FALLS  (1848) 

Niagara  Falls  !  By  what  mysterious  power  is  it  that  millions 
and  millions  are  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  gaze  upon 
5  Niagara  Falls  ?  There  is  no  mystery  about  the  thing  itself.  Every 
effect  is  just  as  any  intelligent  man,  knowing  the  causes,  would 
anticipate  without  seeing  it.  If  the  water  moving  onward  in  a 
great  river  reaches  a  point  where  there  is  a  perpendicular  jog 
of  a  hundred  feet  in  descent  in  the  bottom  of  the  river,  it  is 

io  plain  the  water  will  have  a  violent  and  continuous  plunge  at  that 
point.  It  is  also  plain,  the  water,  thus  plunging,  will  foam  and 
roar,  and  send  up  a  mist  continuously,  in  which  last,  during 
sunshine,  there  will  be  perpetual  rainbows.  The  mere  physical 
of  Niagara  Falls  is  only  this.   Yet  this  is  really  a  very  small  part 

15  of  that  world's  wonder.  Its  power  to  excite  reflection  and  emo- 
tion is  its  great  charm.  The  geologist  will  demonstrate  that  the 
plunge,  or  fall,  was  once  at  Lake  Ontario,  and  has  worn  its  way 
back  to  its  present  position  ;  he  will  ascertain  how  fast  it  is  wear- 
ing now,  and  so  get  a  basis  for  determining  how  long  it  has 

20  been  wearing  back  from  Lake  Ontario,  and  finally  demonstrate 
by  it  that  this  world  is  at  least  fourteen  thousand  years  old.  A 
philosopher  of  a  slightly  different  turn  will  say,  "  Niagara  Falls 
is  only  the  lip  of  the  basin  out  of  which  pours  all  the  surplus 
water  which  rains  down  on  two  or  three  hundred  thousand 

25  square  miles  of  the  earth's  surface."  He  will  estimate  with  ap- 
proximate accuracy  that  five  hundred  thousand  tons  of  water 
fall  with  their  full  weight  a  distance  of  a  hundred  feet  each 
minute  —  thus  exerting  a  force  equal  to  the  lifting  of  the  same 
weight,  through  the  same  space,  in  the  same  time.    And  then 


NOTES  ON  THE  PRACTICE  OF  LAW  (1850)         1 1 

the  further  reflection  comes  that  this  vast  amount  of  water,  con- 
stantly pounding  down,  is  supplied  by  an  equal  amount  con- 
stantly lifted  up,  by  the  sun ;  and  still  he  says,  "  If  this  much  is 
lifted  up  for  this  one  space  of  two  or  three  hundred  thousand 
square  miles,  an  equal  amount  must  be  lifted  up  for  every  other  5 
equal  space  "  ;  and  he  is  overwhelmed  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  vast  power  the  sun  is  constantly  exerting  in  the  quiet  noise- 
less operation  of  lifting  water  up  to  be  rained  down  again. 

But  still  there  is  more.    It  calls  up  the  indefinite  past.   When 
Columbus  first  sought  this  continent  —  when  Christ  suffered  on  10 
the  cross  —  when  Moses  led  Israel  through  the  Red  Sea  —  nay, 
even  when  Adam  first  came  from  the  hand  of  his  Maker :  then, 
as  now,  Niagara  was  roaring  here.    The  eyes  of  that  species  of 
extinct  giants  whose  bones  fill  the  mounds  of  America  have 
gazed  on  Niagara,  as  ours  do  now.    Contemporary  with  the  first  1 5 
race  of  men,  and  older  than  the  first  man,  Niagara  is  strong 
and  fresh  to-day  as  ten  thousand  years  ago.    The  mammoth 
and  mastodon,  so  long  dead  that  fragments  of  their  monstrous 
bones  alone  testify  that  they  ever  lived,  have  gazed  on  Niagara 
—  in  that  long,  long  time  never  still  for  a  single  moment  [never  20 
dried],  never  froze,  never  slept,  never  rested. 

NOTES   ON   THE  PRACTICE  OF  LAW  (1850) 

.  .  .  Discourage  litigation.  Persuade  your  neighbors  to 
compromise  whenever  you  can.  Point  out  to  them  how  the 
nominal  winner  is  often  a  real  loser  —  in  fees,  expenses,  and 
waste  of  time.  As  a  peacemaker  the  lawyer  has  a  superior  25 
opportunity  of  being  a  good  man.  There  will  still  be  business 
enough. 

Never  stir  up  litigation.    A  worse  man  can  scarcely  be  found 
than  one  who   does   this.    Who  can   be  more  nearly  a  fiend 
than  he  who  habitually  overhauls  the  register  of  deeds  in  search  30 
of  defects  in  titles,  whereon  to  stir  up  strife,  and  put  money  in 


12  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

his  pocket  ?    A  moral  tone  ought  to  be  infused  into  the  profes- 
sion which  should  drive  such  men  out  of  it. 

The  matter  of  fees  is  important,  far  beyond  the  mere  ques- 
tion of  bread  and  butter  involved.  Properly  attended  to,  fuller 
5  justice  is  done  to  both  lawyer  and  client.  An  exorbitant  fee 
should  never  be  claimed.  As  a  general  rule  never  take  your 
whole  fee  in  advance,  nor  any  more  than  a  small  retainer. 
When  fully  paid  beforehand,  you  are  more  than  a  common 
mortal  if  you  can  feel  the  same  interest  in  the  case,  as  if  some- 

10  thing  was  still  in  prospect  for  you,  as  well  as  for  your  client. 
And  when  you  lack  interest  in  the  case  the  job  will  very  likely 
lack  skill  and  diligence  in  the  performance.  Settle  the  amount 
of  fee  and  take  a  note  in  advance.  Then  you  will  feel  that  you 
are  working  for  something,  and  you  are  sure  to  do  your  work 

15  faithfully  and  well.  .   .   . 

There  is  a  vague  popular  belief  that  lawyers  are  necessarily 
dishonest.  I  say  vague,  because  when  we  consider  to  what  ex- 
tent confidence  and  honors  are  reposed  in  and  conferred  upon 
lawyers  by  the  people,  it  appears  improbable  that  their  impression 

20  of  dishonesty  is  very  distinct  and  vivid.  Yet  the  impression  is 
common,  almost  universal.  Let  no  young  man  choosing  the  law 
for  a  calling  for  a  moment  yield  to  the  popular  belief  —  resolve 
to  be  honest  at  all  events ;  and  if  in  your  own  judgment  you 
cannot  be  an  honest  lawyer,  resolve  to  be  honest  without  being 

25  a  lawyer.  Choose  some  other  occupation,  rather  than  one  in  the 
choosing  of  which  you  do,  in  advance,  consent  to  be  a  knave. 


LETTER  TO  JOHN   D.  JOHNSTON.  13 

LETTER  TO   JOHN  D.   JOHNSTON 

January  2,  185 1 
Dear  Johnston  : 

Your  request  for  eighty  dollars  I  do  not  think  it  best  to 
comply  with  now.  At  the  various  times  when  I  have  helped 
you  a  little  you  have  said  to  me,  "  We  can  get  along  very  well 
now"  ;  but  in  a  very  short  time  I  find  you  in  the  same  difficulty 
again.  Now,  this  can  only  happen  by  some  defect  in  your  con-  5 
duct.  What  that  defect  is,  I  think  I  know.  You  are  not  lazy, 
and  still  you  are  an  idler.  I  doubt  whether,  since  I  saw  you, 
you  have  done  a  good  whole  day's  work  in  any  one  day.  You  do 
not  very  much  dislike  to  work,  and  still  you  do  not  work  much, 
merely  because  it  does  not  seem  to  you  that  you  could  get  10 
much  for  it.  This  habit  of  uselessly  wasting  time  is  the  whole 
difficulty;  it  is  vastly  important  to.  you,  and  still  more  so  to 
your  children,  that  you  should  break  the  habit.  It  is  more 
important  to  them,  because  they  have  longer  to  live,  and  can 
keep  out  of  an  idle  habit  before  they  are  in  it,  easier  than  they  15 
can  get  out  after  they  are  in. 

You  are  now  in  need  of  some  money ;  and  what  I  propose 
is,  that  you  shall  go  to  work,  "  tooth  and  nail,"  for  somebody 
who  will  give  you  money  for  it.  Let  father  and  your  boys  take 
charge  of  your  things  at  home,  prepare  for  a  crop,  and  make  20 
the  crop,  and  you  go  to  work  for  the  best  money  wages,  or  in 
discharge  of  any  debt  you  owe,  that  you  can  get ;  and,  to  secure 
you  a  fair  reward  for  your  labor,  I  now  promise  you,  that  for 
every  dollar  you  will,  between  this  and  the  first  of  May,  get 
for  your  own  labor,  either  in  money  or  as  your  own  indebted-  25 
ness,  I  will  then  give  you  one  other  dollar.  By  this,  if  you  hire 
yourself  at  ten  dollars  a  month,  from  me  you  will  get  ten  more, 
making  twenty  dollars  a  month  for  your  work.  In  this  I  do 
not  mean  you  shall  go  off  to  St.  Louis,  or  the  lead  mines,  or 
the  gold  mines  in  California,  but  I  mean  for  you  to  go  at  it  30 


14  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

for  the  best  wages  you  can  get  close  to  home  in  Coles  County. 
Now,  if  you  will  do  this,  you  will  be  soon  out  of  debt,  and, 
what  is  better,  you  will  have  a  habit  that  will  keep  you  from 
getting  in  debt  again.  But,  if  I  should  now  clear  you  out  of 
5  debt,  next  year  you  would  be  just  as  deep  in  as  ever.  You  say 
you  would  almost  give  your  place  in  heaven  for  seventy  or 
eighty  dollars.  Then  you  value  your  place  in  heaven  very  cheap, 
for  I  am  sure  you  can,  with  the  offer  I  make,  get  the  seventy 
or  eighty  dollars  for  four  or  five  months'  work.    You  say  if  I 

10  will  furnish  you  the  money  you  will  deed  me  the  land,  and,  if 
you  don't  pay  the  money  back,  you  will  deliver  possession. 
Nonsense !  If  you  can't  now  live  with  the  land,  how  will  you 
then  live  without  it  ?  You  have  always  been  kind  to  me,  and  I 
do  not  mean  to  be  unkind  to  you.    On  the  contrary,  if  you  will 

15  but  follow  my  advice,  you  will  find   it  worth  more  than  eighty 

times  eighty  dollars  to  you. 

Affectionately  your  brother 

A.  Lincoln 


LETTER  TO   JOHN   D.   JOHNSTON 

Shelbyville,  November  4,  185 1 
Dear  Brother: 

When  I  came  into  Charleston  day  before  yesterday,  I  learned 
that  you  are  anxious  to  sell  the  land  where  you  live  and  move 
to  Missouri.    I  have  been  thinking  of  this  ever  since,  and  can- 

20  not  but  think  such  a  notion  is  utterly  foolish.  What  can  you 
do  in  Missouri  better  than  here  ?  Is  the  land  any  richer  ?  Can 
you  there,  any  more  than  here,  raise  corn  and  wheat  and  oats 
without  work  ?  Will  anybody  there,  any  more  than  here,  do 
your  work  for  you  ?    If  you  intend  to  go  to  work,  there  is  no 

25  better  place  than  right  where  you  are ;  if  you  do  not  intend  to 
go  to  work,  you  cannot  get  along  anywhere.  Squirming  and 
crawling  about  from  place  to  place  can  do  no  good.    You  have 


HOPE,  THE  INSPIRATION  OF  LABOR  15 

raised  no  crop  this  year ;  and  what  you  really  want  is  to  sell 
the  land,  get  the  money,  and  spend  it.  Part  with  the  land  you 
have,  and,  my  life  upon  it,  you  will  never  after  own  a  spot  big 
enough  to  bury  you  in.  Half  you  will  get  for  the  land  you  will 
spend  in  moving  to  Missouri,  and  the  other  half  you  will  eat,  5 
drink,  and  wear  out,  and  no  foot  of  land  will  be  bought.  Now, 
I  feel  it  my  duty  to  have  no  hand  in  such  a  piece  of  foolery.  I 
feel  that  it  is  so  even  on  your  own  account,  and  particularly  on 
mother's  account.  The  eastern  forty  acres  I  intend  to  keep  for 
mother  while  she  lives ;  if  you  will  not  cultivate  it,  it  will  rent  10 
for  enough  to  support  her  ■ — •  at  least,  it  will  rent  for  something. 
Her  dower  in  the  other  two  forties  she  can  let  you  have,  and 
no  thanks  to  me.  Now,  do  not  misunderstand  this  letter ;  I  do 
not  write  it  in  any  unkindness.  I  write  it  in  order,  if  possible,  to 
get  you  to  face  the  truth,  which  truth  is,  you  are  destitute  because  1 5 
you  have  idled  away  all  your  time.  Your  thousand  pretenses  for 
not  getting  along  better  are  all  nonsense ;  they  deceive  nobody 
but  yourself.    Go  to  work  is  the  only  cure  for  your  case. 


HOPE,  THE  INSPIRATION  OF  LABOR 

(Fragment  written  about  July  1,  1854) 

Equality  in  society  alike  beats  inequality,  whether  the  latter 
be  of  the  British  aristocratic  sort  or  of  the  domestic  slavery  sort.  20 
We  know  Southern  men  declare  that  their  slaves  are  better  off 
than  hired  laborers  amongst  us.  How  little  they  know  whereof 
they  speak !  There  is  no  permanent  class  of  hired  laborers 
amongst  us.  Twenty-five  years  ago  I  was  a  hired  laborer.  The 
hired  laborer  of  yesterday  labors  on  his  own  account  to-day,  and  25 
will  hire  others  to  labor  for  him  to-morrow.  Advancement  — 
improvement  in  condition  —  is  the  order  of  things  in  a  society 
of  equals.  As  labor  is  the  common  burden  of  our  race,  so  the  ef- 
fort of  some  to  shift  their  share  of  the  burden  onto  the  shoulders 


l6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  others  is  the  great  durable  curse  of  the  race.  Originally  a 
curse  for  transgression  upon  the  whole  race,  when,  as  by  slav- 
ery, it  is  concentrated  on  a  part  only,  it  becomes  the  double- 
refined  curse  of  God  upon  his  creatures. 
5  Free  labor  has  the  inspiration  of  hope ;  pure  slavery  has  no 
hope.  The  power  of  hope  upon  human  exertion  and  happiness 
is  wonderful.  The  slave  master  himself  has  a  conception  of  it, 
and  hence  the  system  of  tasks  among  slaves.  The  slave  whom 
you  cannot  drive  with  the  lash  to  break  seventy-five  pounds  of 

10  hemp  in  a  day,  if  you  will  task  him  to  break  a  hundred,  and 
promise  him  pay  for  all  he  does  over,  he  will  break  you  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty.  You  have  substituted  hope  for  the  rod.  And 
yet  perhaps  it  does  not  occur  to  you  that  to  the  extent  of 
your  gain  in  the  case,  you  have  given  up  the  slave  system  and 

i~5  adopted  the  free  system  of  labor. 

REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE 
THE  RIGHT   OF   SELF-GOVERNMENT 

(Extracts  from  speech  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  October  16,  1854) 

...  I  think,  and  shall  try  to  show,  that  it  is  wrong  —  wrong 
in  its  direct  effect,  letting  slavery  into  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  and 
wrong  in  its  prospective  principle,  allowing  it  to  spread  to  every 
other  part  of  the  wide  world  where  men  can  be  found  inclined 

20  to  take  it. 

This  declared  indifference,  but,  as  I  must  think,  covert  real 
zeal,  for  the  spread  of  slavery,  I  cannot  but  hate.  I  hate  it 
because  of  the  monstrous  injustice  of  slavery  itself.  I  hate  it 
because  it  deprives  our  republican  example  of  its  just  influence 

25  in  the  world;  enables  the  enemies  of  free  institutions  with 
plausibility  to  taunt  us  as  hypocrites ;  causes  the  real  friends  of 
freedom  to  doubt  our  sincerity  ;  and  especially  because  it  forces 
so  many  good  men  among  ourselves  into  an  open  war  with 


REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE        17 

the  very  fundamental  principles  of  civil  liberty,  criticizing  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  insisting  that  there  is  no 
right  principle  of  action  but  self-interest. 

Before  proceeding  let  me  say  that  I  think  I  have  no  preju- 
dice against  the  Southern  people.  They  are  just  what  we  5 
would  be  in  their  situation.  If  slavery  did  not  now  exist  among 
them,  they  would  not  introduce  it.  I  If  it  did  now  exist  among 
us,  we  should  not  instantly  give  it  up.  This  I  believe  of  the 
masses  North  and  South.  Doubtless  there  are  individuals  on 
both  sides  who  would  not  hold  slaves  under  any  circumstances,  10 
and  others  who  would  gladly  introduce  slavery  anew  if  it  were 
out  of  existence.  We  know  that  some  Southern  men  do  free 
their  slaves,  go  North  and  become  tiptop  abolitionists,  while  some 
Northern  ones  go  South  and  become  most  cruel  slave  masters. 

When  Southern  people  tell  us  they  are  no  more  responsible  15 
for  the  origin  of  slavery  than  we  are,  I  acknowledge  the  fact. 
When  it  is  said  that  the  institution  exists,  and  that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  get  rid  of  it  in  any  satisfactory  way,  I  can  under- 
stand and  appreciate  the  saying.    I  surely  will  not  blame  them 
for  not  doing  what  I  should  not  know  how  to  do  myself.    If  all  20 
earthly  power  were  given  me,  I  should  not  know  what  to  do 
as  to  the  existing  institution.    My  first  impulse  would  be  to 
free  all  the  slaves,  and  send  them  to  Liberia,  to  their  own 
native  land.    But  a  moment's  reflection  would   convince  me 
that  whatever  of  high  hope  (as  I  think  there  is)  there  may  be  25 
in  this  in  the  long  run,  its  sudden  execution  is  impossible.  /If 
they  were  all  landed  there  in  a  day,  they  would  all  perish  in 
the  next  ten  days ;  and  there  are  not  surplus  shipping  and  sur- 
plus money  enough  to  carry  them  there  in  many  times  ten  days. 
What  then  ?    Free  them  all,  and  keep  them  among  us  as  under-  30 
lings  ?    Is  it  quite  certain  that  this  betters  their  condition  ?    I 
think  I  would  not  hold  one  in  slavery  at  any  rate,  yet  the  point 
is  not  clear  enough  for  me  to  denounce  people  upon.    What 
next?    Free  them,  and  make  them  politically  and  socially  our 


18  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

equals.  My  own  feelings  will  not  admit  of  this,  and  if  mine 
would,  we  well  know  that  those  of  the  great  mass  of  whites 
will  not.  Whether  this  feeling  accords  with  justice  and  sound 
judgment  is  not  the  sole  question,  if  indeed  it  is  any  part  of  it. 
5  A  universal  feeling,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  cannot  be 
safely  disregarded.  We  cannot  then  make  them  equals.  It 
does  seem  to  me  that  systems  of  gradual  emancipation  might 
be  adopted,  but  for  their  tardiness  in  this  I  will  not  undertake 
to  judge  our  brethren  of  the  South. 

10  When  they  remind  us  of  their  constitutional  rights,  I  acknowl- 
edge them  —  not  grudgingly,  but  fully  and  fairly ;  and  I  would 
give  them  any  legislation  for  the  reclaiming  of  their  fugitives 
which  should  not  in  its  stringency  be  more  likely  to  carry  a  free 
man  into  slavery  than  our  ordinary  criminal  laws  are  to  hang  an 

15  innocent  one. 

But  all  this,  to  my  judgment,  furnishes  no  more  excuse  for 
permitting  slavery  to  go  into  our  own  free  territory  than  it 
would  for  reviving  the  African  slave  trade  by  law.  The  law 
which  forbids  the  bringing  of  slaves  from  Africa,  and  that  which 

20  has  so  long  forbidden  the  taking  of  them  into  Nebraska,  can 
hardly  be  distinguished  on  any  moral  principle,  and  the  repeal 
of  the  former  could  find  quite  as  plausible  excuses  as  that  of 
the  latter.  .  .  . 

But  one  great  argument  in  support  of  the  repeal  of  the 

25  Missouri  Compromise  is  still  to  come.  That  argument  is  "  the 
sacred  right  of  self-government."  It  seems  our  distinguished 
senator  has  found  great  difficulty  in  getting  his  antagonists, 
even  in  the  Senate,  to  meet  him  fairly  on  this  argument.  Some 
poet  *  has  said : 

30  Fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread. 

At  the  hazard  of  being  thought  one  of  the  fools  of  this  quota- 
tion, I  meet  that  argument  —  I  rush  in  —  I  take  that  bull  by 

*  Alexander  Pope,  in  "  Essay  on  Criticism." 


REPEAL  OF  THE   MISSOURI  COMPROMISE        19 

the  horns.  I  trust  I  understand  and  trufy  estimate  the  right  of 
self-government.  My  faith  in  the  proposition  that  each  man 
should  do  precisely  as  he  pleases  with  all  which  is  exclusively 
his  own  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the  sense  of  justice  there  is  in 
me.  I  extend  the  principle  to  communities  of  men  as  well  as  to  5 
individuals.  I  so  extend  it  because  it  is  politically  wise,  as  well 
as  naturally  just :  politically  wise  in  saving  us  from  broils  about 
matters  which  do  not  concern  us.  Here,  or  at  Washington,  I 
would  not  trouble  myself  with  the  oyster  laws  of  Virginia,  or 
the  cranberry  laws  of  Indiana.  The  doctrine  of  self-government  10 
is  right,  —  absolutely  and  eternally  right,  —  but  it  has  no  just 
application  as  here  attempted.  Or  perhaps  I  should  rather  say 
that  whether  it  has  such  application  depends  upon  whether  a 
negro  is  not  or  is  a  man.  If  he  is  not  a  man,  in  that  case  he 
who  is  a  man  may  as  a  matter  of  self-government  do  just  what  15 
he  pleases  with  him.  But  if  the  negro  is  a  man,  is  it  not  to  that 
extent  a  total  destruction  of  self-government  to  say  that  he  too 
shall  not  govern  himself  ?  When  the  white  man  governs  himself, 
that  is  self-government ;  but  when  he  governs  himself  and  also 
governs  another'  man,  that  is  more  than  self-government  —  that  20 
is  despotism.  If  the  negro  is  a  man,  why  then  my  ancient  faith 
teaches  me  that  "  all  men  are  created  equal,"  and  that  there  can 
be  no  moral  right  in  connection  with  one  man's  making  a  slave 
of  another. 

Judge   Douglas   frequently,  with  bitter  irony  and  sarcasm,  25 
paraphrases  our  argument  by  saying :   "  The  white  people  of 
Nebraska  are  good  enough  to  govern  themselves,  but  they  are 
not  good  enough  to  govern  a  few  miserable  negroes ! " 

Well !  I  doubt  not  that  the  people  of  Nebraska  are  and  will 
continue  to  be  as  good  as  the  average  of  people  elsewhere.  I  30 
do  not  say  the  contrary.  What  I  do  say  is  that  no  man  is  good 
enough  to  govern  another  man  without  that  other's  consent.  I 
say  this  is  the  leading  principle,  the  sheet  anchor  of  American 
republicanism.    Our  Declaration  of  Independence  says : 


20  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident :  That  all  men  are  created 
equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalien- 
able rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness.    That  to  secure  these  rights,  governments  are  instituted 
5  among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent 

OF  THE  GOVERNED. 

I  have  quoted  so  much  at  this  time  merely  to  show  that,  ac- 
cording to  our  ancient  faith,  the  just  powers  of  governments  are 
derived  from  the  consent  of  the  governed.    Now  the  relation  of 

10  master  and  slave  is  pro  ta?ito  a  total  violation  of  this  principle. 
The  master  not  only  governs  the  slave  without  his  consent,  but 
he  governs  him  by  a  set  of  rules  altogether  different  from  those 
which  he  prescribes  for  himself.  Allow  all  the  governed  an 
equal  voice  in  the  government,  and  that,  and  that  only,  isself- 

15  government. 

Let  it  not  be  said  I  am  contending  for  the  establishment  of 
political  and  social  equality  between  the  whites  and  blacks.  I 
have  already  said  the  contrary.  I  am  not  combating  the  argu- 
ment of  necessity,  arising  from  the  fact  that  the  blacks  are 

20  already  among  us  ;  but  I  am  combating  what  is  set  up  as  moral 
argument  for  allowing  them  to  be  taken  where  they  have  never 
yet  been  —  arguing  against  the  extension  of  a  bad  thing,  which, 
where  it  already  exists,  we  must  of  necessity  manage  as  we 
best  can. 

25  In  support  of  his  application  of  the  doctrine  of  self-govern- 
ment, Senator  Douglas  has  sought  to  bring  to  his  aid  the  opin- 
ions and  examples  of  our  Revolutionary  fathers.  I  am  glad  he 
has  done  this.  I  love  the  sentiments  of  those  old-time  men,  and 
shall  be  most  happy  to  abide  by  their  opinions.    He  shows  us 

30  that  when  it  was  in  contemplation  for  the  colonies  to  break  off 
from  Great  Britain,  and  set  up  a  new  government  for  themselves, 
several  of  the  states  instructed  their  delegates  to  go  for  the 
measure,  provided  each  state  should  be  allowed  to  regulate  its 
domestic  concerns  in  its  own  way.    I  do  not  quote ;  but  this  in 


REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE        21 

substance.  This  was  right ;  I  see  nothing  objectionable  in  it. 
I  also  think  it  probable  that  it  had  some  reference  to  the  exist- 
ence of  slavery  among  them.  I  will  not  deny  that  it  had.  But 
had  it  any  reference  to  the  carrying  of  slavery  into  new  coun- 
tries ?  That  is  the  question,  and  we  will  let  the  fathers  themselves  5 
answer  it. 

This  same  generation  of  men,  and  mostly  the  same  individ- 
uals of  the  generation  who  declared  this  principle,  who  declared 
independence,  who  fought  the  War  of  the  Revolution  through, 
who  afterward  made  the  Constitution  under  which  we  still  live  10 
—  these  same  men  passed  the  Ordinance  of  '87,  declaring  that 
slavery  should  never  go  to  the  Northwest  Territory.  I  have  no 
doubt  Judge  Douglas  thinks  they  were  very  inconsistent  in  this. 
It  is  a  question  of  discrimination  between  them  and  him.  But 
there  is  not  an  inch  of  ground  left  for  his  claiming  that  their  15 
opinions,  their  example,  their  authority,  are  on  his  side  in  the 
controversy. 

Again,  is  not  Nebraska,  while  a  territory,  a  part  of  us  ?  Do 
we  not  own  the  country  ?  And  if  we  surrender  the  control  of  it, 
do  we  not  surrender  the  right  of  self-government  ?  It  is  part  20 
of  ourselves.  If  you  say  we  shall  not  control  it,  because  it  is 
only  part,  the  same  is  true  of  every  other  part ;  and  when  all 
the  parts  are  gone,  what  has  become  of  the  whole  ?  What  is 
then  left  of  us  ?  What  use  for  the  general  government,  when 
there  is  nothing  left  for  it  to  govern?  25 

But  you  say  this  question  should  be  left  to  the  people  of 
Nebraska,  because  they  are  more  particularly  interested.  If  this 
be  the  rule,  you  must  leave  it  to  each  individual  to  say  for  him- 
self whether  he  will  have  slaves.  What  better  moral  right  have 
thirty-one  citizens  of  Nebraska  to  say  that  the  thirty-second  shall  30 
not  hold  slaves  than  the  people  of  the  thirty-one  states  have  to 
say  that  slavery  shall  not  go  into  the  thirty-second  state  at  all  ? 

But  if  it  is  a  sacred  right  for  the  people  of  Nebraska  to  take 
and  hold  slaves  there,  it  is  equally  their  sacred  right  to  buy  them 


22  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

where  they  can  buy  them  cheapest  sand  that,  undoubtedly,  will 
be  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  provided  you  will  consent  not  to  hang 
them  for  going  there  to  buy  them.  You  must  remove  this  re- 
striction, too,  from  the  sacred  right  of  self-government.  I  am 
5  aware,  you  say,  that  taking  slaves  from  the  states  to  Nebraska 
does  not  make  slaves  of  freemen ;  but  the  African  slave  trader 
can  say  just  as  much.  He  does  not  catch  free  negroes  and 
bring  them  here.  He  finds  them  already  slaves  in  the  hands  of 
their  black  captors,  and  he  honestly  buys  them  at  the  rate  of  a 

10  red  cotton  handkerchief  a  head.  This  is  very  cheap,  and  it  is  a 
great  abridgment  of  the  sacred  right  of  self-government  to  hang 
men  for  engaging  in  this  profitable  trade. 

Another  important  objection  to  this  application  of  the  right 
of  self-government  is  that  it  enables  the  first  few  to  deprive  the 

15  succeeding  many  of  a  free  exercise  of  the  right  of  self-govern- 
ment. The  first  few  may  get  slavery  in,  and  the  subsequent 
many  cannot  easily  get  it  out.  How  common  is  the  remark  now 
in  the  slave  states,  "  If  we  were  only  clear  of  our  slaves,  how 
much  better  it  would  be  for  us."    They  are  actually  deprived  of 

20  the  privilege  of  governing  themselves  as  they  would,  by  the  ac- 
tion of  a  very  few  in  the  beginning.  The  same  thing  was  true 
of  the  whole  nation  at  the  time  our  Constitution  was  formed. 

Whether  slavery  shall  go  into  Nebraska,  or  other  new  terri- 
tories, is  not  a  matter  of  exclusive  concern  to  the  people  who 

25  may  go  there.  The  whole  nation  is  interested  that  the  best  use 
shall  be  made  of  these  territories.  We  want  them  for  homes 
of  free  white  people.  This  they  cannot  be,  to  any  considerable 
extent,  if  slavery  shall  be  planted  within  them.  Slave  states  are 
places  for  poor  white  people  to  remove  from,  not  to  remove  to. 

30  New  free  states  are  the  places  for  poor  people  to  go  to,  and 
better  their  condition.  For  this  use  the  nation  needs  these 
territories. 

Still  further :  there  are  constitutional  relations  between  the 
slave  and  free  states  which  are  degrading  to  the  latter.   We 


REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI   COMPROMISE        23 

are  under  legal  obligations  to  catch  and  return  their  runaway- 
slaves  to  them  :  a  sort  of  dirty,  disagreeable  job,  which,  I  be- 
lieve, as  a  general  rule,  the  slaveholders  will  not  perform  for 
one  another.  Then  again,  in  the  control  of  the  government  — 
the  management  of  the  partnership  affairs  —  they  have  greatly  5 
the  advantage  of  us.  By  the  Constitution  each  state  has  two 
senators,  each  has  a  number  of  representatives  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  its  people,  and  each  has  a  number  of  presidential 
electors  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  its  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives together.  But  in  ascertaining  the  number  of  the  10 
people  for  this  purpose,  five  slaves  are  counted  as  being  equal 
to  three  whites.  The  slaves  do  not  vote ;  they  are  only  counted 
and  so  used  as  to  swell  the  influence  of  the  white  people's 
votes.  The  practical  effect  of  this  is  more  aptly  shown  by  a 
comparison  of  the  states  of  South  Carolina  and  Maine.  South  15 
Carolina  has  six  representatives,  and  so  has  Maine ;  South 
Carolina  has  eight  presidential  electors,  and  so  has  Maine.  This 
is  precise  equality  so  far ;  and  of  course  they  are  equal  in  sena- 
tors, each  having  two.  Thus  in  the  control  of  the  government 
the  two  states  are  equals  precisely.  But  how  are  they  in  the  20 
number  of  their  white  people?  Maine  has  581,813,  while  South 
Carolina  has  274,567  ;  Maine  has  twice  as  many  as  South  Caro- 
lina, and  32,679  over.  Thus,  each  white  man  in  South  Carolina 
is  more  than  the  double  of  any  man  in  Maine.  This  is  all  be- 
cause South  Carolina,  besides  her  free  people,  has  384,984  25 
slaves.  The  South  Carolinian  has  precisely  the  same  advantage 
over  the  white  man  in  every  other  free  state  as  well  as  in  Maine. 
He  is  more  than  the  double  of  any  one  of  us  in  this  crowd. 
The  same  advantage,  but  not  to  the  same  extent,  is  held  by 
all  the  citizens  of  the  slave  states  over  those  of  the  free ;  and  30 
it  is  an  absolute  truth,  without  an  exception,  that  there  is  no 
voter  in  any  slave  state,  but  who  has  more  legal  power  in  the 
government  than  any  voter  in  any  free  state.  There  is  no  in- 
stance of  exact  equality;  and  the  disadvantage  is  against  us 


24  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  whole  chapter  through.  This  principle,  in  the  aggregate, 
gives  the  slave  states  in  the  present  Congress  twenty  additional 
representatives,  being  seven  more  than  the  whole  majority  by 
which  they  passed  the  Nebraska  Bill. 
5  Now  all  this  is  manifestly  unfair  ;  yet  I  do  not  mention  it  to 
complain  of  it,  in  so  far  as  it  is  already  settled.  It  is  in  the 
Constitution,  and  I  do  not  for  that  cause,  or  any  other  cause, 
propose  to  destroy,  or  alter,  or  disregard  the  Constitution.  I 
stand  to  it,  fairly,  fully,  and  firmly. 

10  But  when  I  am  told  I  must  leave  it  altogether  to  other 
people  to  say  whether  new  •  partners  are  to  be  bred  up  and 
brought  into  the  firm,  on  the  same  degrading  terms  against  me, 
I  respectfully  demur.  I  insist  that  whether  I  shall  be  a  whole 
man,  or  only  the  half  of  one,  in  comparison  with  others,  is  a 

15  question  in  which  I  am  somewhat  concerned,  and  one  which  no 
other  man  can  have  a  sacred  right  of  deciding  for  me.  If  I  am 
wrong  in  this  —  if  it  really  be  a  sacred  right  of  self-government 
in  the  man  who  shall  go  to  Nebraska  to  decide  whether  he  will 
be  the  equal  of  me  or  the  double  of  me,  then,  after  he  shall 

20  have  exercised  that  right,  and  thereby  shall  have  reduced  me  to 
a  still  smaller  fraction  of  a  man  than  I  already  am,  I  should 
like  for  some  gentleman,  deeply  skilled  in  the  mysteries  of  sacred 
rights,  to  provide  himself  with  a  microscope,  and  peep  about, 
and  find  out,  if  he  can,  what  has  become  of  my  sacred  rights. 

25  They  will  surely  be  too  small  for  detection  with  the  naked  eye. 
Finally,  I  insist  that  if  there  is  anything  which  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  whole  people  to  never  intrust  to  any  hands  but  their  own, 
that  thing  is  the  preservation  and  perpetuity  of  their  own  liber- 
ties and  institutions.    And  if  they  shall  think,  as  I  do,  that  the 

30  extension  of  slavery  endangers  them  more  than  any  or  all  other 
causes,  how  recreant  to  themselves  if  they  submit  the  question, 
and  with  it  the  fate  of  their  country,  to  a  mere  handful  of  men 
bent  only  on  self-interest.  If  this  question  of  slavery  extension 
were  an  insignificant  one  —  one  having  no  power  to  do  harm  — 


"A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF"  25 

it  might  be  shuffled  aside  in  this  way ;  but  being,  as  it  is,  the 
great  behemoth  of  danger,  shall  the  strong  grip  of  the  nation 
be  loosened  upon  him,  to  intrust  him  to  the  hands  of  such  feeble 
keepers  ? 

I  have  done  with  this  mighty  argument  of  self-government. 
Go,  sacred  thing !  Go  in  peace.  .  .  . 


AFTER  THE  DEFEAT  OF   1856 

(Close  of  address  at  a  Republican  banquet  in  Chicago, 
December  10,  1856) 

.  .  .  Let  every  one  who  really  believes,  and  is  resolved,  that 
free  society  is  not  and  shall  not  be  a  failure,  and  who  can  con- 
scientiously declare  that  in  the  past  contest  he  has  done  only 
what  he  thought  best  —  let  every  such  one  have  charity  to  10 
believe  that  every  other  one  can  say  as  much.  Thus  let  by- 
gones be  bygones  ;  let  past  differences  as  nothing  be  ;  and 
with  steady  eye  on  the  real  issue,  let  us  reinaugurate  the  good 
old  "  central  ideas  "  of  the  republic.  We  can  do  it.  The  human 
heart  is  with  us ;  God  is  with  us.  We  shall  again  be  able  not  1 5 
to  declare  that  "  all  states  as  states  are  equal,"  nor  yet  that 
"  all  citizens  as  citizens  are  equal,"  but  to  renew  the  broader, 
better  declaration,  including  both  these  and  much  more,  that 
"  all  men  are  created  equal." 

"A   HOUSE   DIVIDED   AGAINST   ITSELF" 

(Extracts  from  speech  made  in  Springfield,  Illinois, 

June  16,  1858) 

Mr,  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  :  If  we  could  20 
first  know  where  we  are,  and  whither  we  are  tending,  we  could 
better  judge  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do  it.    We  are  now  far 
into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with  the  avowed 


26  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

object  and  confident  promise  of  putting  an  end  to  slavery  agita- 
tion. Under  the  operation  of  that  policy,  that  agitation  has  not 
only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion, 
it  will  not  cease  until  a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and  passed. 
5  "A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  I  believe  this 
government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half 
free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved  —  I  do  not 
expect  the  house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.    It  will  become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the  other.    Either 

10  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it, 
and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that 
it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction ;  or  its  advocates  will 
push  it  forward  till  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  states, 
old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South. 

1 5       Have  we  no  tendency  to  the  latter  condition  ? 

Let  any  one  who  doubts  carefully  contemplate  that  now 
almost  complete  legal  combination  —  piece  of  machinery,  so  to 
speak  —  compounded  of  the  Nebraska  doctrine  and  the  Dred 
Scott    decision.    Let    him    consider  not    only  what  work    the 

20  machinery  is  adapted  to  do,  and  how  well  adapted ;  but  also  let 

him  study  the  history  of  its  construction,  and  trace,  if  he  can, 

or  rather  fail,  if  he  can,  to  trace  the  evidences  of  design  and 

concert  of  action  among  its  chief  architects,  from  the  beginning. 

The  new  year  of  1854  found  slavery  excluded  from  more 

25  than  half  the  states  by  state  constitutions,  and  from  most  of 
the  national  territory  by  congressional  prohibition.  Four  days 
later  commenced  the  struggle  which  ended  in  repealing  that 
congressional  prohibition.  This  opened  all  the  national  territory 
to  slavery,  and  was  the  first  point  gained. 

30  But,  so  far,  Congress  only  had  acted ;  and  an  indorsement 
by  the  people,  real  or. apparent,  was  indispensable  to  save  the 
point  already  gained  and  give  chance  for  more. 

This  necessity  had  not  been  overlooked,  but  had  been  pro- 
vided for,  as  well  as  might  be,  in  the  notable  argument  of 


"A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF"  27 

"  squatter  sovereignty,"  otherwise  called  "  sacred  right  of  self- 
government,"  which  latter  phrase,  though  expressive  of  the 
only  rightful  basis  of  any  government,  was  so  perverted  in  this 
attempted  use  of  it  as  to  amount  to  just  this :  That  if  any  one 
man  choose  to  enslave  another,  no  third  man  shall  be  allowed  5 
to  object.  That  argument  was  incorporated  into  the  Nebraska 
Bill  itself,  in  the  language  which  follows :  "It  being  the  true 
intent  and  meaning  of  this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any 
territory  or  state,  nor  to  exclude  it  therefrom  ;  but  to  leave 
the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  10 
domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States."  Then  opened  the  roar 
of  loose  declamation  in  favor  of  '  squatter  sovereignty  "  and 
l!  sacred  right  of  self-government."  '  But,"  said  opposition 
members,  "let  us  amend  the  bill  so  as  to  expressly  declare  15 
that  the  people  of  the  territory  may  exclude  slavery."  ;'  Not 
we,"  said  the  friends  of  the  measure ;  and  down  they  voted 
the  amendment. 

While  the  Nebraska  Bill  was  passing  through  Congress,  a 
law  case  involving  the  question  of  a  negro's  freedom,  by  reason  20 
of  his  owner  having  voluntarily  taken  him  first  into  a  free 
state  and  then  into  a  territory  covered  by  the  congressional 
prohibition,  and  held  him  as  a  slave  for  a  long  time  in  each, 
was  passing  through  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  for  the 
district  of  Missouri;  and  both  Nebraska  Bill  and  lawsuit  were  25 
brought  to  a  decision  in  the  same  month  of  May,  1854.  The 
negro's  name  was  Dred  Scott,  which  name  now  designates  the 
decision  finally  made  in  the  case.  Before  the  then  next  presi- 
dential election,  the  law  case  came  to  and  was  argued  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States ;  but  the  decision  of  it  30 
was  deferred  until  after  the  election.  Still,  before  the  election, 
Senator  Trumbull,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  requested  the 
leading  advocate  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  to  state  his  opinion 
whether  the  people  of  a  territory  can  constitutionally  exclude 


28  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

slavery  from  their  limits  ;  and  the  latter  answered  :    '  That  is  a 
question  for  the  Supreme  Court." 

The  election  came.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  elected,  and  the  in- 
dorsement, such  as  it  was,  secured.  That  was  the  second  point 
5  gained.  The  indorsement,  however,  fell  short  of  a  clear  popu- 
lar majority  by  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  votes,  and  so, 
perhaps,  was  not  overwhelmingly  reliable  and  satisfactory.  The 
outgoing  President,  in  his  last  annual  message,  as  impressively 
as  possible  echoed  back  upon  the  people  the  weight  and  author- 

io  ity  of  the  indorsement.  The  Supreme  Court  met  again ;  did 
not  announce  their  decision,  but  ordered  a  reargument.  The 
presidential  inauguration  came,  and  still  no  decision  of  the 
court ;  but  the  incoming  President  in  his  inaugural  address  fer- 
vently exhorted  the  people  to  abide  by  the  forthcoming  decision, 

15  whatever  it  might  be.    Then,  in  a  few  days,  came  the  decision. 
The  reputed  author  of  the  Nebraska  Bill  finds  an  early  occa- 
sion to  make  a  speech  at  this  capital  indorsing  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  and  vehemently  denouncing  all  opposition  to  it.    The 
new  President,  too,  seizes  the  early  occasion  of  the  Silliman 

20  letter  to  indorse  and  strongly  construe  that  decision,  and  to 
express  his  astonishment  that  any  different  view  had  ever 
been  entertained ! 

At  length  a  squabble  springs  up  between  the  President  and 
the  author  of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  on  the  mere  question  of  fact, 

25  whether  the  Lecompton  constitution  was  or  was  not,  in  any 
just  sense,  made  by  the  people  of  Kansas ;  and  in  that  quarrel 
the  latter  declares  that  all  he  wants  is  a  fair  vote  for  the  people, 
and  that  he  cares  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted 
up.    I   do  not  understand   his  declaration  that   he   cares  not 

30  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted  up  to  be  intended  by 
him  other  than  as  an  apt  definition  of  the  policy  he  would 
impress  upon  the  public  mind  —  the  principle  for  which  he 
declares  he  has  suffered  so  much,  and  is  ready  to  suffer  to  the 
end.    And  well  may  he  cling  to  that  principle.    If  he  has  any 


"A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF"  29 

parental  feeling,  well  may  he  cling  to  it.  That  principle  is  the 
only  shred  left  of  his  original  Nebraska  doctrine.  Under  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  "  squatter  sovereignty ':  squatted  out  of 
existence,  tumbled  down  like  temporary  scaffolding,  —  like  the 
mold  at  the  foundry,  served  through  one  blast  and  fell  back  5 
into  loose  sand,  —  helped  to  carry  an  election,  and  then  was 
kicked  to  the  winds.  His  late  joint  struggle  with  the  Repub- 
licans against  the  Lecompton  constitution  involves  nothing  of 
the  original  Nebraska  doctrine.  That  struggle  was  made  on  a 
point  —  the  right  of  a  people  to  make  their  own  constitution —  10 
upon  which  he  and  the  Republicans  have  never  differed. 

The  several  points  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  in  connection 
with  Senator  Douglas's  "  care  not "  policy,  constitute  the  piece 
of  machinery  in  its  present  state  of  advancement.  This  was  the 
third  point  gained.    The  working  points,  of  that  machinery  are  :  15 

(1)  That  no  negro  slave,  imported  as  such  from  Africa,  and 
no  descendant  of  such  slave,  can  ever  be  a  citizen  of  any  state, 
in  the  sense  of  that  term  as  used  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  This  point  is  made  in  order  to  deprive  the 
negro  in  every  possible  event  of  the  benefit  of  that  provision  20 
of  the  United  States  Constitution  which  declares  that  "  the 
citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States." 

(2)  That,  "  subject  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States," 
neither  Congress  nor  a  territorial  legislature  can  exclude  slavery  25 
from  any  United  States  territory.  This  point  is  made  in  order 
that  individual  men  may  fill  up  the  territories  with  slaves,  with- 
out danger  of  losing  them  as  property,  and  thus  enhance  the 
chances  of  permanency  to  the  institution  through  all  the  future. 

(3)  That  whether  the  holding  a  negro  in  actual  slavery  in  a  30 
free  state  makes  him  free  as  against  the  holder,  the  United 
States  courts  will  not  decide,  but  will  leave  to  be  decided  by 
the  courts  of  any  slave  state  the  negro  may  be  forced  into  by 
tne  master.    This  point  is  made  not  to  be  pressed  immediately, 


30  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

but,  if  acquiesced  in  for  a  while,  and  apparently  indorsed  by  the 
people  at  an  election,  then  to  sustain  the  logical  conclusion 
that  what  Dred  Scott's  master  might  lawfully  do  with  Dred 
Scott  in  the  free  state  of  Illinois,  every  other  master  may  law- 
5  fully  do  with  any  other  one  or  one  thousand  slaves  in  Illinois 
or  in  any  other  free  state. 

Auxiliary  to  all  this,  and  working  hand  in  hand  with  it,  the 
Nebraska  doctrine,  or  what  is  left  of  it,  is  to  educate  and  mold 
public  opinion,  at  least  Northern  public  opinion,  not  to   care 

io  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted  up.  This  shows  exactly 
where  we  now  are,  and  partially,  also,  whither  we  are  tending. 

It  will  throw  additional  light  on  the  latter,  to  go  back  and 
run  the  mind  over  the  string  of  historical  facts  already  stated. 
Several  things  will  now  appear  less  dark  and  mysterious  than 

15  they  did  when  they  were  transpiring.  The  people  were  to  be 
left  "  perfectly  free,"  "  subject  only  to  the  Constitution."  What 
the  Constitution  had  to  do  with  it  outsiders  could  not  then  see. 
Plainly  enough  now,  it  was  an  exactly  fitted  niche  for  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  to  afterward  come  in,  and  declare  the  perfect 

20  freedom  of  the  people  to  be  just  no  freedom  at  all.  Why  was 
the  amendment  expressly  declaring  the  right  of  the  people 
voted  down  ?  Plainly  enough  now,  the  adoption  of  it  would 
have  spoiled  the  niche  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision.  Why  was 
the  court  decision  held  up  ?    Why  even  a  senator's  individual 

25  opinion  withheld  till  after  the  presidential   election  ?     Plainly 
enough  now,  the  speaking  out  then  would  have  damaged  the 
'  perfectly  free  "  argument  upon  which  the  election  was  to  be 
carried.    Why  the  outgoing  President's  felicitation  on  the  in- 
dorsement ?    Why  the  delay  of  a  reargument  ?    Why  the  incom- 

30  ing  President's  advance  exhortation  in  favor  of  the  decision  ? 
These  things  look  like  the  cautious  patting  and  petting  of  a 
spirited  horse  preparatory  to  mounting  him,  when  it  is  dreaded 
that  he  may  give  the  rider  a  fall.  And  why  the  hasty  after- 
indorsement  of  the  decision  by  the  President  and  others  ? 


EQUALITY  OF  WHITE  AND  BLACK  RACES   31 

We  cannot  absolutely  know  that  all  these  exact  adaptations 
are  the  result  of  preconcert.'  But  when  we  see  a  lot  of  framed 
timbers,  different  portions  of  which  we  know  have  been  gotten 
out  at  different  times  and  places  and  by  different  workmen,  — 
Stephen,  Franklin,  Roger,  and  James,  for  instance,  —  and  we  5 
see  these  timbers  joined  together,  and  see  they  exactly  make 
the  frame  of  a  house  or  a  mill,  all  the  tenons  and  mortises  ex- 
actly fitting,  and  all  the  lengths  and  proportions  of  the  different 
pieces  exactly  adapted  to  their  respective  places,  and  not  a  piece 
too  many  or  too  few,  not  omitting  even  scaffolding  —  or,  if  a  10 
single  piece  be  lacking,  we  see  the  place  in  the  frame  exactly 
fitted  and  prepared  yet  to  bring  such  piece  in  —  in  such  a  case 
we  find  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen  and  Franklin 
and  Roger  and  James  all  understood  one  another  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan  or  draft  drawn  15 
up  before  the  first  blow  was  struck.  .  .   . 


ALITY  OF  WHITE  AND  BLACK  RACES 

(Extract  from  first  debate  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  Ottawa, 

Illinois,  August  21,  1858) 

...  I  have  no  purpose,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  to  inter- 
fere with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  exists. 
I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have  no  inclination 
to  do  so.  I  have  no  purpose  to  introduce  political  and  social  20 
equality  between  the  white  and  the  black  races.  There  is  a 
physical  difference  between  the  two,  which,  in  my  judgment, 
will  probably  forever  forbid  their  living  together  upon  the  foot- 
ing of  perfect  equality  ;  and  inasmuch  as  it  becomes  a  necessity 
that  there  must  be  a  difference,  I,  as  well  as  Judge  Douglas,  am  25 
in  favor  of  the  race  to  which  I  belong  having  the  superior  posi- 
tion. I  have  never  said  anything  to  the  contrary,  but  I  hold  that, 
notwithstanding  all  this,  there  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why  the 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

negro  is  not  entitled  to  all  the  natural  rights  enumerated  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  —  the  right  to  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  I  hold  that  he  is  as  much  entitled 
to  these  as  the  white  man.  I  agree  with  Judge  Douglas  he  is 
5  not  my  equal  in  many  respects  —  certainly  not  in  color,  per- 
haps not  in  moral  or  intellectual  endowment.  But  in  the  right 
to  eat  the  bread,  without  the  leave  of  anybody  else,  which  his 
own  hand  earns,  he  is  my  equal  and  the  equal  of  Judge  Douglas, 
and  the  equal  of  every  living  man.  .  .  . 


REPUBLICAN  AND  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES 

COMPARED 

(Extract  from  sixth  joint  debate  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas, 
Quincy,  Illinois,  October  13,  1858) 

10  ...  We  have  in  this  nation  the  element  of  domestic  slavery. 
It  is  a  matter  of  absolute  certainty  that  it  is  a  disturbing  element. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  all  the  great  men  who  have  expressed  an 
opinion  upon  it,  that  it  is  a  dangerous  element.  We  keep  up  a 
controversy  in  regard  to  it.    That  controversy  necessarily  springs 

15  from  difference  of  opinion,  and  if  wre  can  learn  exactly  —  can 
reduce  to  the  lowest  elements  —  what  that  difference  of  opinion 
is,  we  perhaps  shall  be  better  prepared  for  discussing  the  differ- 
ent systems  of  policy  that  we  would  propose  in  regard  to  that 
disturbing  element.     I  suggest  that  the  difference  of  opinion, 

20  reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  is  no  other  than  the  difference  be- 
tween the  men  who  think  slavery  a  wrong  and  those  who  do 
not  think  it  wrong.  The  Republican  party  think  it  wrong  —  we 
.  think  it  is  a  moral,  a  social,  and  a  political  wrong.  We  think  it 
is  a  wrong  not  confining  itself  merely  to  the  persons  or  the  states 

25  where  it  exists,  but  that  it  is  a  wrong  which  in  its  tendency,  to 
say  the  least,  affects  the  existence  of  the  whole  nation.  Because 
we  think  it  wrong,  we  propose  a  course  of  policy  that  shall  deal 


REPUBLICAN  AND  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES    33 

with  it  as  a  wrong.  We  deal  with  it  as  with  any  other  wrong,  in 
so  far  as  we  can  prevent  its  growing  any  larger,  and  so  deal 
with  it  that  in  the  run  of  time  there  may  be  some  promise  of 
an  end  to  it.  We  have  a  due  regard  to  the  actual  presence  of 
it  amongst  us,  and  the  difficulties  of  getting  rid  of  it  in  any  satis-  5 
factory  way,  and  all  the  constitutional  obligations  thrown  about 
it.  I  suppose  that  in  reference  both  to  its  actual  existence  in  the 
nation,  and  to  our  constitutional  obligations,  we  have  no  right 
at  all  to  disturb  it  in  the  states  where  it  exists,  and  we  profess 
that  we  have  no  more  inclination  to  disturb  it  than  we  have  the  10 
right  to  do  it.  We  go  further  than  that :  we  don't  propose  to 
disturb  it  where,  in  one  instance,  we  think  the  Constitution  would 
permit  us.  We  think  the  Constitution  would  permit  us  to  dis- 
turb it  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Still  we  do  not  propose  to 
do  that,  unless  it  should  be  in  terms  which  I  don't  suppose  the  15 
nation  is  very  likely  soon  to  agree  to  —  the  terms  of  making  the 
emancipation  gradual  and  compensating  the  unwilling  owners. 
WThere  we  suppose  we  have  the  constitutional  right,  we  restrain 
ourselves  in  reference  to  the  actual  existence  of  the  institution 
and  the  difficulties  thrown  about  it.  We  also  oppose  it  as  an  evil  20 
so  far  as  it  seeks  to  spread  itself.  We  insist  on  the  policy  that 
shall  restrict  it  to  its  present  limits.  We  don't  suppose  that  in 
doing  this  we  violate  anything  due  to  the  actual  presence  of 
the  institution,  or  anything  due  to  the  constitutional  guaranties 
thrown  around  it.  25 

We  oppose  the  Dred  Scott  decision  in  a  certain  way,  upon 
which  I  ought  perhaps  to  address  you  a  few  words.  We  do  not 
propose  that  when  Dred  Scott  has  been  decided  to  be  a  slave  by 
the  court,  we,  as  a  mob,  will  decide  him  to  be  free.  We  do  not 
propose  that,  when  any  other  one,  or  one  thousand,  shall  be  de-  30 
cided  by  that  court  to  be  slaves,  we  will  in  any  violent  way  dis- 
turb the  rights  of  property  thus  settled  ;  but  we  nevertheless  do 
oppose  that  decision  as  a  political  rule,  which  shall  be  binding 
on  the  voter  to  vote  for  nobody  who  thinks  it  wrong,  which  shall 


34  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

be  binding  on  the  members  of  Congress  or  the  President  to 
favor  no  measure  that  does  not  actually  concur  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  that  decision.  We  do  not  propose  to  be  bound  by  it 
as  a  political  rule  in  that  way,  because  we  think  it  lays  the  foun- 
5  dation  not  merely  of  enlarging  and  spreading  out  what  we  con- 
sider an  evil,  but  it  lays  the  foundation  for  spreading  that  evil 
into  the  states  themselves.  We  propose  so  resisting  it  as  to 
have  it  reversed  if  we  can,  and  a  new  judicial  rule  established 
upon  this  subject. 

10  I  will  add  this,  that  if  there  be  any  man  who  does  not  believe 
that  slavery  is  wrong  in  the  three  aspects  which  I  have  men- 
tioned, or  in  any  one  of  them,  that  man  is  misplaced  and  ought 
to  leave  us.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  if  there  be  any  man  in 
the  Republican  party  who  is  impatient  over  the  necessity  spring- 

15  ing  from  its  actual  presence,  and  is  impatient  of  the  constitu- 
tional guaranties  thrown  around  it,  and  would  act  in  disregard  of 
these,  he  too  is  misplaced,  standing  with  us.  He  will  find  his 
place  somewhere  else ;  for  we  have  a  due  regard,  so  far  as  we 
are  capable  of  understanding  them,  for  all  these  things.    This, 

20  gentlemen,  as  well  as  I  can  give  it,  is  a  plain  statement  of  our 
principles  in  all  their  enormity. 

I  will  say  now  that  there  is  a  sentiment  in  the  country  con- 
trary to  me  —  a  sentiment  which  holds  that  slavery  is  not  wrong, 
and  therefore  it  goes  for  the  policy  that  does  not  propose  deal- 

25  ing  with  it  as  a  wrong.  That  policy  is  the  Democratic  policy,  and 
that  sentiment  is  the  Democratic  sentiment.  If  there  be  a  doubt 
in  the  mind  of  any  one  of  this  vast  audience  that  this  is  really 
the  central  idea  of  the  Democratic  party,  in  relation  to  this  sub- 
ject, I  ask  him  to  bear  with  me  while  I  state  a  few  things  tend- 

30  ing,  as  I  think,  to  prove  that  proposition.  In  the  first  place,  the 
leading  man  —  I  think  I  may  do  my  friend  Judge  Douglas  the 
honor  of  calling  him  such  —  advocating  the  present  Democratic 
policy  never  himself  says  it  is  wrong.  He  has  the  high  distinc- 
tion, so  far  as  I  know,  of  never  having  said  slavery  is  either 


REPUBLICAN  AND  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES    35 

right  or  wrong.  Almost  everybody  else  says  one  or  the  other, 
but  the  judge  never  does.  If  there  be  a  man  in  the  Democratic 
party  who  thinks  it  is  wrong,  and  yet  clings  to  that  party,  I  sug- 
gest to  him  in  the  first  place  that  his  leader  don't  talk  as  he  does, 
for  he  never  says  that  it  is  wrong.  In  the  second  place,  I  sug-  5 
gest  to  him  that  if  he  will  examine  the  policy  proposed  to  be 
carried  forward,  he  will  find  that  he  carefully  excludes  the  idea 
that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  it.  If  you  will  examine  the  argu- 
ments that  are  made  on  it,  you  will  find  that  every  one  carefully 
excludes  the  idea  that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  slavery.  Per-  10 
haps  that  Democrat  who  says  he  is  as  much  opposed  to  slavery 
as  I  am,  will  tell  me  that  I  am  wrong  about  this.  I  wish  him  to 
examine  his  own  course  in  regard  to  this  matter  a  moment,  and 
then  see  if  his  opinion  will  not  be  changed  a  little.  You  say  it 
is  wrong;  but  don't  you  constantly  object  to  anybody  else  say-  15 
ing  so  ?  Do  you  not  constantly  argue  that  this  is  not  the  right 
place  to  oppose  it  ?  You  say  it  must  not  be  opposed  in  the  free 
states,  because  slavery  is  not  there ;  it  must  not  be  opposed  in 
the  slave  states,  because  it  is  there ;  it  must  not  be  opposed  in 
politics,  because  that  will  make  a  fuss ;  it  must  not  be  opposed  20 
in  the  pulpit,  because  it  is  not  religion.  Then  where  is  the  place 
to  oppose  it  ?  There  is  no  suitable  place  to  oppose  it.  There  is 
no  plan  in  the  country  to  oppose  this  evil  overspreading  the  con- 
tinent, which  you  say  yourself  is  coming.  Frank  Blair  and  Gratz 
Brown  tried  to  get  up  a  system  of  gradual  emancipation  in  Mis-  25 
souri,  had  an  election  in  August,  and  got  beat ;  and  you,  Mr. 
Democrat,  threw  up  your  hat  and  hallooed,  "  Hurrah  for 
Democracy !  " 

So  I  say  again,  that  in  regard  to  the  arguments  that  are 
made,  when  Judge  Douglas  says  he  "  don't  care  whether  slav-  30 
ery  is  voted  up  or  voted  down,"  whether  he  means  that  as  an 
individual  expression  of  sentiment,  or  only  as  a  sort  of  statement 
of  his  views  on  national  policy,  it  is  alike  true  to  say  that  he  can 
thus  argue  logically  if  he  don't  see  anything  wrong  in  it ;  but  he 


36  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

cannot  say  so  logically  if  he  admits  that  slavery  is  wrong.  He 
cannot  say  that  he  would  as  soon  see  a  wrong  voted  up  as  voted 
down.  When  Judge  Douglas  says  that  whoever  or  whatever 
community  wants  slaves,  they  have  a  right  to  have  them,  he  is 

5  perfectly  logical  if  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  the  institution  ;  but 
if  you  admit  that  it  is  wrong,  he  cannot  logically  say  that  any- 
body has  a  right  to  do  wrong.  When  he  says  that  slave  prop- 
erty and  horse  and  hog  property  are  alike  to  be  allowed  to  go 
into  the  territories,  upon  the  principles  of  equality,  he  is  reason- 

io  ing  truly  if  there  is  no  difference  between  them  as  property ; 
but  if  the  one  is  property,  held  rightfully,  and  the  other  is  wrong, 
then  there  is  no  equality  between  the  right  and  wrong ;  so  that, 
turn  it  in  any  way  you  can,  in  all  the  arguments  sustaining  the 
Democratic  policy,  and  in  that  policy  itself,  there  is  a  careful, 

15  studied  exclusion  of  the  idea  that  there  is  anything  wrong  in 
slavery.  Let  us  understand  this.  I  am  not,  just  here,  trying 
to  prove  that  we  are  right  and  they  are  wrong.  I  have  been 
stating  where  we  and  they  stand,  and  trying  to  show  what  is 
the  real  difference  between  us ;  and  I  now  say  that  whenever 

20  we  can  get  the  question  distinctly  stated,  —  can  get  all  these  men 
who  believe  that  slavery  is  in  some  of  these  respects  wrong,  to 
stand  and  act  with  us  in  treating  it  as  a  wrong,  —  then,  and  not 
till  then,  I  think,  will  we  in  some  way  come  to  an  end  of  this 
slavery  agitation. 


LINCOLN'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  37 

LINCOLN'S  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

(Written  for  campaign  purposes) 

Springfield,  December  20,  1859 
J.  W.  Fell,  Esq. 

My  dear  Sir . 

Herewith  is  a  little  sketch,  as  you  requested.    There  is  not 

much  of  it,  for  the  reason,  I  suppose,  that  there  is  not  much  of 

me.    If  anything  be  made  out  of  it,  I  wish  it  to  be  modest,  and 

not  to  go  beyond  the  material.    If  it  were  thought  necessary  to 

incorporate  anything  from  any  of  my  speeches,  I  suppose  there  5 

would  be  no  objection.    Of  course  it  must  not  appear  to  have 

been  written  by  myself. 

Yours  very  truly 

A.  Lincoln 

I  was  born  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky. 
My  parents  were   both   born   in   Virginia,   of  undistinguished 
families  —  second  families,  perhaps  I  should  say.    My  mother,  10 
who  died  in  my  tenth  year,  was  of  a  family  of  the  name  of 
Hanks,  some  of  whom  now  reside  in  Adams,  and  others  in 
Macon  County,  Illinois.     My  paternal  grandfather,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  emigrated  from  Rockingham  County,  Virginia,  to  Ken- 
tucky about  1781  or  1782,  where  a  year  or  two  later  he  was  killed  1 5 
by  the  Indians,  not  in  battle,  but  by  stealth,  when  he  was  labor- 
ing to  open  a  farm  in  the  foresU    His  ancestors,  who  were 
Quakers,  went  to  Virginia  from  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania. 
An  effort  to  identify  them  with  the  New  England  family  of  the 
same  name  ended  in  nothing  more  definite  than  a  similarity  of  20 
Christian  names  in  both  families,  such  as  Enoch,  Levi,  Mordecai, 
Solomon,  Abraham,  and  the  like. 

My  father,  at  the  death  of  his  father,  was  but  six  years  of 
age,  and  he  grew  up  literally  without  education.  He  removed 
from  Kentucky  to  what  is  now  Spencer  County,  Indiana,  in  25 


38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

my  eighth  year.  We  reached  our  new  home  about  the  time  the 
state  came  into  the  Union.  It  was  a  wild  region,  with  many 
bears  and  other  wild  animals  still  in  the  woods.  There  I  grew 
up.  There  were  some  schools,  so  called,  but  no  qualification 
5  was  ever  required  of  a  teacher  beyond  '  readin',  writin',  and 
cipherin' ;'  to  the  rule  of  three.  If  a  straggler  supposed  to  un- 
derstand Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighborhood,  he 
was  looked  upon  as  a  wizard.  There  was  absolutely  nothing  to 
excite  ambition  for  education.    Of  course,  when  I  came  of  age 

10  I  did  not  know  much.  Still,  somehow,  I  could  read,  write,  and 
cipher  to  the  rule  of  three,  but  that  was  all.  I  have  not  been  to 
school  since.  The  little  advance  I  now  have  upon  this  store 
of  education,  I  have  picked  up  from  time  to  time  under  the 
pressure  of  necessity. 

15  I  was  raised  to  farm  work,  which  I  continued  till  I  was 
twenty-two.  At  twenty-one  I  came  to  Illinois,  Macon  County. 
Then  I  got  to  New  Salem,  at  that  time  in  Sangamon,  now  in 
Menard  County,  where  I  remained  a  year  as  a  sort  of  clerk  in 
a  store.    Then  came  the  Black  Hawk  Warj}  and  I  was  elected 

20  a  captain  of  volunteers,  a  success  which  gave  me  more  pleasure 
than  any  I  have  had  since.  I  went  the  campaign,  was  elated, 
ran  for  the  legislature  the  same  year  (1832),  and  was  beaten  — 
the  only  time  I  ever  have  been  beaten  by  the  people.  The  next 
and  three  succeeding  biennial  elections   I  was  elected  to  the 

25  legislature.  I  was  not  a  candidate  afterward.  During  this  legis- 
lative period  I  had  studied  law,  and  removed  to  Springfield 
to  practice  it.  In  1846  I  was  once  elected  to  the  lower  House 
of  Congress.  Was  not  a  candidate  for  reelection.  From  1849  to 
1854,  both  inclusive,  practiced  law  more  assiduously  than  ever 

30  before.  Always  a  Whig  in  politics  ;  and  generally  on  the  Whig 
electoral  tickets,  making  active  canvasses.  I  was  losing  inter- 
est in  politics  when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
aroused  me  again.  What  I  have  done  since  then  is  pretty 
well  known. 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         39 

If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought  desirable,  it  may 

be  said  I  am,  in  height,  six  feet  four  inches,  nearly  ;  lean  in  flesh, 

weighing  on  an  average  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds ;  dark 

complexion,  with   coarse  black  hair  and  gray  eyes.    No  other 

marks  or  brands  recollected. 

Yours  truly 

A.  Lincoln 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT 

(Address  at  Cooper  Union,  New  York,  February  27,  i860) 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Citizens  of  Neiv  York:  The  facts 
with  which  I  shall  deal  this  evening  are  mainly  old  and  familiar  ; 
nor  is  there  anything  new  in  the  general  use  I  shall  make  of 
them.  If  there  shall  be  any  novelty,  it  will  be  in  the  mode 
of  presenting  the  facts,  and  the  inferences  and  observations  10 
following  that  presentation.  In  his  speech  last  autumn  at 
Columbus,  Ohio,  as  reported  in  the  New  York  Times,  Senator 
Douglas  said : 

Our  fathers,  when  they  framed  the  government  under  which  we 
live,  understood  this  question  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  15 
do  now. 

I  fully  indorse  this,  and  I  adopt  it  as  a  text  for  this  discourse. 
I  so  adopt  it  because  it  furnishes  a  precise  and  an  agreed  start- 
ing-point for  a  discussion  between  Republicans  and  that  wing 
of  the  Democracy  headed  by  Senator  Douglas.  It  simply  leaves  20 
the  inquiry :  Wnat  was  the  understanding  those  fathers  had  of 
the  question  mentioned  ? 

What  is  the  frame  of  government  under  which  we  live  ?  The 
answer  must  be,  "  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 
That  Constitution  consists  of  the  original,  framed  in  1787,  and  25 
under  which  the  present  government  first  went  into  operation, 
and  twelve  subsequently  framed  amendments,  the  first  ten  of 
which  were  framed  in  1789. 


4o  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Who  were  our  fathers  that  framed  the  Constitution  ?  I  sup- 
pose the  "  thirty-nine  "  who  signed  the  original  instrument  may 
be  fairly  called  our  fathers  who  framed  that  part  of  the  present 
government.  It  is  almost  exactly  true  to  say  they  framed  it, 
5  and  it  is  altogether  true  to  say  they  fairly  represented  the  opin- 
ion and  sentiment  of  the  whole  nation  at  that  time.  Their 
names,  being  familiar  to  nearly  all,  and  accessible  to  quite  all, 
need  not  now  be  repeated. 

I  take  these  "  thirty-nine,"  for  the  present,  as  being  w  our 

io  fathers  who  framed  the  government  under  which  we  live." 

What  is  the  question  which,  according  to  the  text,  those  fathers 

understood  "  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now  "  ? 

It  is  this :  Does  the   proper  division  of  local  from  federal 

authority,  or  anything  in  the  Constitution,  forbid  our  federal 

1 5  government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  our  federal  territories  ? 
Upon  this,  Senator  Douglas  holds  the  affirmative,  and  Re- 
publicans the  negative.    This  affirmation  and  denial  form  an 
issue  ;  and  this  issue  —  this  question  —  is  precisely  what  the 
text  declares  our  fathers  understood  "  better  than  we."    Let  us 

20  now  inquire  whether  the  "  thirty-nine,"  or  any  of  them,  ever 
acted  upon  this  question ;  and  if  they  did,  how  they  acted 
upon  it  —  how  they  expressed  that  better  understanding.  In 
1784,  three  years  before  the  Constitution,  the  United  States 
then  owning  the   Northwestern  Territory,   and  no  other,  the 

25  Congress  of  the  Confederation  had  before  them  the  ques- 
tion of  prohibiting  slavery  in  that  territory ;  *  and  four  of  the 
"  thirty-nine  "  who  afterward  framed  the  Constitution  were  in 
that  Congress,  and  voted  on  that  question.  Of  these,  Roger 
Sherman,  Thomas  Mifflin,  and  Hugh  Williamson  voted  for  the 

30  prohibition,  thus  showing  that,  in  their  understanding,  no  line 
dividing  local  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything  else,  properly 

*  The  bill  was  reported  by  Thomas  Jefferson.  It  prohibited  slavery 
after  1800  above  the  parallel  of  310  north  latitude.  It  failed  to  pass  by 
one  vote. 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         41 

forbade  the  federal  government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  fed- 
eral territory.  The  other  of  the  four,  James  McHenry,  voted 
against  the  prohibition,  showing  that  for  some  cause  he  thought 
it  improper  to  vote  for  it. 

In  1787,  still  before  the  Constitution,  but  while  the  conven-  5 
tion  was  in  session  framing  it,   and  while  the   Northwestern 
Territory  still  was  the  only  territory  owned  by  the  United  States, 
the  same  question  of  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  territory  again 
came  before  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation ;  and  two  more 
of  the  "  thirty-nine  "  who  afterward  signed  the  Constitution  were  10 
in  that  Congress,  and  voted  on  the  question.  They  were  William 
Blount  and  William  Few ;  and  they  both  voted  for  the  prohibi- 
tion —  thus  showing  that  in  their  understanding  no  line  dividing 
local  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything  else,  properly  forbade 
the  federal  government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  federal  terri-  15 
tory.   This  time  the  prohibition  became  a  law,  being  part  of  what 
is  now  well  known  as  the  Ordinance  of  '87. 

The  question  of  federal  control  of  slavery  in  the  territories 
seems  not  to  have  been  directly  before  the  convention  which 
framed  the  original  Constitution ;  and  hence  it  is  not  recorded  20 
that  the  "  thirty-nine,"  or  any  of  them,  while  engaged  on  that 
instrument,  expressed  any  opinion  on  that  precise  question. 

In  1789,  by  the  first  Congress  which  sat  under  the  Consti- 
tution, an  act  was  passed  to  enforce  the  Ordinance  of  '87,  in- 
cluding the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Northwestern  Territory.  25 
The  bill  for  this  act  was  reported  by  one  of  the  "  thirty-nine  " 
—  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives from  Pennsylvania.  It  went  through  all  its  stages 
without  a  word  of  opposition,  and  finally  passed  both  branches 
without  ayes  and  nays,  which  is  equivalent  to  a  unanimous  pas-  30 
sage.  In  this  Congress  there  were  sixteen  of  the  thirty-nine 
fathers  who  framed  the  original  Constitution.  They  were  John 
Langdon,  Nicholas  Gilman,  Wm.  S.  Johnson,  Roger  Sherman, 
Robert   Morris,   Thos.  Fitzsimmons,   William    Few,   Abraham 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Baldwin,  Rufus  King,  William  Paterson,  George  Clymer, 
Richard  Bassett,  George  Read,  Pierce  Butler,  Daniel  Carroll, 
and  James  Madison. 

This  shows  that,  in  their  understanding,  no  line  dividing  local 
5  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything  in  the  Constitution,  prop- 
erly forbade  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  federal  terri- 
tory ;  else  both  their  fidelity  to  correct  principle,  and  their  oath 
to  support  the  Constitution,  would  have  constrained  them  to 
oppose  the  prohibition. 

10  Again,  George  Washington,  another  of  the  "  thirty-nine,"  was 
then  President  of  the  United  States,  and  as  such  approved  and 
signed  the  bill,  thus  completing  its  validity  as  a  law,  and  thus 
showing  that,  in  his  understanding,  no  line  dividing  local  from 
federal  authority,  nor  anything  in  the  Constitution,  forbade  the 

15  federal  government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  federal  territory. 

No  great  while  after  the  adoption  of  the  original  Constitution, 

North  Carolina  ceded  to  the  federal  government  the  country 

now  constituting  the  state  of  Tennessee ;  and  a  few  years  later 

Georgia  ceded  that  which  now  constitutes  the  states  of  Missis- 

20  sippi  and  Alabama.*  In  both  deeds  of  cession  it  was  made  a 
condition  by  the  ceding  states  that  the  federal  government 
should  not  prohibit  slavery  in  the  ceded  country.  Besides  this, 
slavery  was  then  actually  in  the  ceded  country.  Under  these 
circumstances,  Congress,  on  taking  charge  of  these  countries, 

25  did  not  absolutely  prohibit  slavery  within  them.  But  they  did 
interfere  with  it  —  take  control  of  it  —  even  there,  to  a  certain 
extent.  In  1798  Congress  organized  the  territory  of  Mississippi. 
In  the  act  of  organization  they  prohibited  the  bringing  of  slaves 
into  the  territory  from  any  place  without  the  United  States,  by 

30  fine,  and  giving  freedom  to  slaves  so  brought.  This  act  passed 
both  branches  of  Congress  without  yeas  and  nays.  In  that 
Congress  were  three  of  the  "  thirty-nine  "  who  framed  the 

*The  cession  by  North  Carolina  was  accepted  by  Congress  in  1790; 
that  by  Georgia  in  1798. 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         43 

original  Constitution.  They  were  John  Langdon,  George  Read, 
and  Abraham  Baldwin.  They  all  probably  voted  for  it.  Cer- 
tainly they  would  have  placed  their  opposition  to  it  upon  record 
if,  in  their  understanding,  any  line  dividing  local  from  federal 
authority,  or  anything  in  the  Constitution,  properly  forbade  the  5 
federal  government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  federal  territory. 

In  1803  the  federal  government  purchased  the  Louisiana 
country.  Our  former  territorial  acquisitions  came  from  certain 
of  our  own  states  ;  but  this  Louisiana  country  was  acquired 
from  a  foreign  nation.  In  1804  Congress  gave  a  territorial  10 
organization  to  that  part  of  it  which  now  constitutes  the  state 
of  Louisiana.  New  Orleans,  lying  within  that  part,  was  an  old 
and  comparatively  large  city.  There  were  other  considerable 
towns  and  settlements,  and  slavery  was  extensively  and  thor- 
oughly intermingled  with  the  people.  Congress  did  not,  in  the  15 
Territorial  Act,  prohibit  slavery ;  but  they  did  interfere  with  it 
—  take  control  of  it  —  in  a  more  marked  and  extensive  way 
than  they  did  in  the  case  of  Mississippi.  The  substance  of  the 
provision  therein  made  in  relation  to  slaves  was : 

1  st.  That  no  slave  should  be  imported  into  the  territory  from  20 
foreign  parts. 

2d.  That  no  slave  should  be  carried  into  it  who  had  been 
imported  into  the  United  States  since  the  first  day  of  May, 
1798. 

3d.  That  no  slave  should  be  carried  into  it,  except  by  the  25 
owner,  and  for  his  own  use  as  a  settler ;  the  penalty  in  all  the 
cases  being  a  fine  upon  the  violator  of  the  law,  and  freedom  to 
the  slave. 

This  act  also  was  passed  without  ayes  or  nays.  In  the  Con- 
gress which  passed  it  there  were  two  of  the  "  thirty-nine."  They  30 
were  Abraham  Baldwin  and  Jonathan  Dayton.  As  stated  in 
the  case  of  Mississippi,  it  is  probable  they  both  voted  for  it. 
They  would  not  have  allowed  it  to  pass  without  recording  their 
opposition  to   it  if,  in  their  understanding,  it  violated  either 


44  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

the  line  properly  dividing  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any 
provision  of  the  Constitution. 

In  1819-20  came  and  passed  the  Missouri  question.  Many 
votes  were  taken,  by  yeas  and  nays,  in  both  branches  of  Con- 
5  gress,  upon  the  various  phases  of  the  general  question.  Two 
of  the  "thirty-nine"  —  Rufus  King  and  Charles  Pinckney  — 
were  members  of  that  Congress.  Mr.  King  steadily  voted  for 
slavery  prohibition  and  against  all  compromises,  while  Mr. 
Pinckney  as    steadily   voted    against    slavery  prohibition    and 

10  against  all  compromises.  By  this,  Mr.  King  showed  that,  in  his 
understanding,  no  line  dividing  local  from  federal  authority, 
nor  anything  in  the  Constitution,  was  violated  by  Congress  pro- 
hibiting slavery  in  federal  territory ;  while  Mr.  Pinckney,  by 
his  votes,  showed  that,  in  his  understanding,  there  was  some  suf- 

15  ficient  reason  for  opposing  such  prohibition  in  that  case. 

The  cases  I  have  mentioned  are  the  only  acts  of  the  "  thirty- 
nine,"  or  of  any  of  them,  upon  the  direct  issue,  which  I  have 
been  able  to  discover. 

To  enumerate  the  persons  who  thus  acted  as  being  four  in 

20  1784,  two  in  1787,  seventeen  in  1789,  three  in  1798,  two  in 
1804,  and  two  in  1819-20,  there  would  be  thirty  of  them.  But 
this  would  be  counting  John  Langdon,  Roger  Sherman,  William 
Few,  Rufus  King,  and  George  Read  each  twice,  and  Abraham 
Baldwin  three  times.    The  true  number  of  those  of  the  "  thirty- 

25  nine  "  whom  I  have  shown  to  have  acted  upon  the  question  which, 
by  the  text,  they  understood  better  than  we,  is  twenty-three,  leav- 
ing sixteen  not  shown  to  have  acted  upon  it  in  any  way. 

Here,  then,  we  have  twenty-three  out  of  our  thirty-nine 
fathers  "  who  framed  the  government  under  which  we  live," 

30  who  have,  upon  their  official  responsibility  and  their  corporal 
oaths,  acted  upon  the  very  question  which  the  text  affirms  they 
"  understood  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now  " ; 
and  twenty-one  of  them  —  a  clear  majority  of  the  whole  "  thirty- 
nine  "  —  so  acting  upon  it  as  to  make  them  guilty  of  gross 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         45 

political  impropriety  and  willful  perjury  if,  in  their  understand- 
ing, any  proper  division  between  local  and  federal  authority,  or 
anything  in  the  Constitution  they  had  made  themselves,  and 
sworn  to  support,  forbade  the  federal  government  to  control 
as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  Thus  the  twenty-one  5 
acted ;  and,  as  actions  speak  louder  than  words,  so  actions 
under  such  responsibility  speak  still  louder. 

Two  of  the  twenty-three  voted  against  congressional  prohibi- 
tion of  slavery  in  the  federal  territories,  in  the  instances  in 
which  they  acted  upon  the  question.  But  for  what  reasons  they  10 
so  voted  is  not  known.  They  may  have  done  so  because  they 
thought  a  proper  division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or 
some  provision  or  principle  of  the  Constitution,  stood  in  the 
way ;  or  they  may,  without  any  such  question,  have  voted 
against  the  prohibition  on  what  appeared  to  them  to  be  suffi-  15 
cient  grounds  of  expediency.  No  one  who  has  sworn  to  support 
the  Constitution  can  conscientiously  vote  for  what  he  under- 
stands to  be  an  unconstitutional  measure,  however  expedient 
he  may  think  it ;  but  one  may  and  ought  to  vote  against  a 
measure  which  he  deems  constitutional  if,  at  the  same  time,  he  20 
deems  it  inexpedient.  It,  therefore,  would  be  unsafe  to  set  down 
even  the  two  who  voted  against  the  prohibition  as  having  done  so 
because,  in  their  understanding,  any  proper  division  of  local  from 
federal  authority,  or  anything  in  the  Constitution,  forbade  the 
federal  government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  federal  territory.  25 

The  remaining  sixteen  of  the  "  thirty-nine,"  so  far  as  I  have 
discovered,  have  left  no  record  of  their  understanding  upon  the 
direct  question  of  federal  control  of  slavery  in  the  federal  terri- 
tories. But  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  their  understand- 
ing upon  that  question  would  not  have  appeared  different  from  30 
that  of  their  twenty-three  compeers,  had  it  been  manifested  at  all. 

For  the  purpose  of  adhering  rigidly  to  the  text,  I  have  pur- 
posely omitted  whatever  understanding  may  have  been  mani- 
fested by  any  person,  however  distinguished,  other  than  the 


46  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

thirty-nine  fathers  who  framed  the  original  Constitution  ;  and, 
for  the  same  reason,  I  have  also -omitted  whatever  understand- 
ing may  have  been  manifested  by  any  of  the  "  thirty-nine  "  even 
on  any  other  phase  of  the  general  question  of  slavery.  If  we 
5  should  look  into  their  acts  and  declarations  on  those  other 
phases,  as  the  foreign  slave  trade,  and  the  morality  and  policy 
of  slavery  generally,  it  would  appear  to  us  that  on  the  direct 
question  of  federal  control  of  slavery  in  federal  territories,  the 
sixteen,  if  they  had  acted  at  all,  would  probably  have  acted 

10  just  as  the  twenty-three  did.  Among  that  sixteen  were  sev- 
eral of  the  most  noted  antislavery  men  of  those  times,  —  as 
Dr.  Franklin,  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  Gouverneur  Morris,  — 
while  there  was  not  one  now  known  to  have  been  otherwise, 
unless  it  may  be  John  Rutledge,  of  South  Carolina. 

15  The  sum  of  the  whole  is  that  of  our  thirty-nine  fathers  who 
framed  the  original  Constitution,  twenty-one  —  a  clear  majority 
of  the  whole  —  certainly  understood  that  no  proper  division  of 
local  from  federal  authority,  nor  any  part  of  the  Constitution, 
forbade  the  federal  government  to  control  slavery  in  the  federal 

20  territories ;   while  all  the  rest  had  probably  the  same  under- 
standing.   Such,  unquestionably,  was  the  understanding  of  our 
fathers  who   framed   the  original  Constitution ;    and   the   text 
affirms  that  they  understood  the  question  "  better  than  we." 
But,  so  far,  I  have  been  considering  the  understanding  of 

25  the  question  manifested  by  the  framers  of  the  original  Consti- 
tution. In  and  by  the  original  instrument,  a  mode  was  pro- 
vided for  amending  it ;  and,  as  I  have  already  stated,  the 
present  frame  of  '  the  government  under  which  we  live ': 
consists    of    that    original,    and    twelve    amendatory    articles 

30  framed  and  adopted  since.  Those  who  now  insist  that  fed- 
eral control  of  slavery  in  federal  territories  violates  the  Con- 
stitution, point  us  to  the  provisions  which  they  suppose  it  thus 
violates ;  and,  as  I  understand,  they  all  fix  upon  provisions  in 
these  amendatory  articles,  and  not  in  the  original  instrument. 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         47 

The  Supreme  Court,  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  plant  themselves 
upon  the  Fifth  Amendment,  which  provides  that  no  person  shall 
be  deprived  of  "  life,  liberty,  or  property  without  due  process  of 
law  "  ;  while  Senator  Douglas  and  his  peculiar  adherents  plant 
themselves  upon  the  Tenth  Amendment,  providing  that  "the  pow-  5 
ers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution " 
[t  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people." 

Now,  it  so  happens  that  these  amendments  were  framed  by 
the  first  Congress  which  sat  under  the  Constitution  —  the  iden- 
tical Congress  which  passed  the  act,  already  mentioned,  enforc-  10 
ing  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Northwestern  Territory. 
Not  only  was  it  the  same  Congress,  but  they  were  the  identical, 
same  individual  men  who,  at  the  same  session,  and  at  the  same 
time  within  the  session,  had  under  consideration,  and  in  prog- 
ress toward  maturity,  these  constitutional  amendments,  and  this  15 
act  prohibiting  slavery  in  all  the  territory  the  nation  then  owned. 
The  constitutional  amendments  were  introduced  before,  and 
passed  after,  the  act  enforcing  the  Ordinance  of  '87  ;  so  that, 
during  the  whole  pendency  of  the  act  to  enforce  the  ordinance, 
the  constitutional  amendments  were  also  pending.  20 

The  seventy-six  members  of  that  Congress,  including  sixteen  of 
the  framers  of  the  original  Constitution,  as  before  stated,  were 
preeminently  our  fathers  who  framed  that  part  of  "  the  govern- 
ment under  which  we  live  "  which  is  now  claimed  as  forbidding 
the  federal  government  to  control  slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  25 

Is  it  not  a  little  presumptuous  in  any  one  at  this  day  to  affirm 
that  the  two  things  which  that  Congress  deliberately  framed, 
and  carried  to  maturity  at  the  same  time,  are  absolutely  incon- 
sistent with  each  other  ?  And  does  not  such  affirmation  become 
impudently  absurd  when  coupled  with  the  other  affirmation,  30 
from  the  same  mouth,  that  those  who  did  the  two  things  alleged 
to  be  inconsistent,  understood  whether  they  really  were  incon- 
sistent better  than  we  —  better  than  he  who  affirms  that  they 
are  inconsistent  ? 


48  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

It  is  surely  safe  to  assume  that  the  thirty-nine  framers  of  the 
original  Constitution,  and  the  seventy-six  members  of  the  Con- 
gress which  framed  the  amendments  thereto,  taken  together,  do 
certainly  include  those  who  may  be  fairly  called  "  our  fathers 

5  who  framed  the  government  under  which  we  live. "  And  so 
assuming,  I  defy  any  man  to  show  that  any  one  of  them  ever, 
in  his  whole  life,  declared  that,  in  his  understanding,  any  proper 
division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any  part  of  the  Con- 
stitution, forbade  the  federal  government  to  control  as  to  slavery 

10  in  the  federal  territories.  I  go  a  step  further.  I  defy  any  one 
to  show  that  any  living  man  in  the  whole  world  ever  did, 
prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  ( and  I  might 
almost  say  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  last  half  of  the  pres- 
ent century),  declare  that,  in   his  understanding,  any  proper 

15  division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any  part  of  the 
Constitution,  forbade  the  federal  government  to  control  as  to 
slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  To  those  who  now  so  declare 
I  give  not  only  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the  government  under 
which  we  live, "  but  with  them  all  other  living  men  within  the 

20  century  in  which  it  was  framed,  among  whom  to  search,  and 
they  shall  not  be  able  to  find  the  evidence  of  a  single  man 
agreeing  with  them. 

Now,  and  here,  let  me  guard  a  little  against  being  misunder- 
stood.   I  do  not  mean  to  say  we  are  bound  to  follow  implicitly 

25  in  whatever  our  fathers  did.  To  do  so  would  be  to  discard  all 
the  lights  of  current  experience  —  to  reject  all  progress,  all  im- 
provement. What  I  do  say  is  that  if  we  would  supplant  the 
opinions  and  policy  of  our  fathers  in  any  case,  we  should  do  so 
upon  evidence  so  conclusive,  and  argument  so  clear,  that  even 

30  their  great  authority,  fairly  considered  and  weighed,  cannot  stand ; 
and  most  surely  not  in  a  case  whereof  we  ourselves  declare  they 
understood  the  question  better  than  we. 

If  any  man  at  this  day  sincerely  believes  that  a  proper  division 
of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any  part  of  the  Constitution, 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         49 

forbids  the  federal  government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  the 
federal  territories,  he  is  right  to  say  so,  and  to  enforce  his  posi- 
tion by  all  truthful  evidence  and  fair  argument  which  he  can. 
But  he  has  no  right  to  mislead  others,  who  have  less  access  to 
history,  and  less  leisure  to  study  it,  into  the  false  belief  that  5 
"  our  fathers  who  framed  the  government  under  which  we  live  " 
were  of  the  same  opinion  —  thus  substituting  falsehood  and 
deception  for  truthful  evidence  and  fair  argument.  If  any 
man  at  this  day  sincerely  believes  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the 
government  under  which  we  live"  used  and  applied  principles,  10 
in  other  cases,  which  ought  to  have  led  them  to  understand  that 
a  proper  division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  some  part 
of  the  Constitution,  forbids  the  federal  government  to  control 
as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories,  he  is  right  to  say  so. 
But  he  should,  at  the  same  time,  brave  the  responsibility  of  15 
declaring  that,  in  his  opinion,  he  understands  their  principles 
better  than  they  did  themselves ;  and  especially  should  he  not 
shirk  that  responsibility  by  asserting  that  they  "  understood  the 
question  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now." 

But  enough !  Let  all  who   believe   that   "  our  fathers  who  20 
framed  the  government  under  which  we  live  understood  this 
question  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now,"  speak 
as  they  spoke,  and  act  as  they  acted  upon  it.    This  is  all  Re- 
publicans ask  —  all  Republicans  desire  —  in  relation  to  slavery. 
As  those  fathers  marked  it,  so  let  it  be  again  marked,  as  an  evil  25 
not  to  be  extended,  but  to  be  tolerated  and  protected  only  be- 
cause of  and  so  far  as  its  actual  presence  among  us  makes  that 
toleration  and  protection  a  necessity.    Let  all  the  guaranties 
those  fathers  gave  it  be  not  grudgingly,  but  fully  and  fairly, 
maintained.    For  this  Republicans  contend,  and  with  this,  so  far  30 
as  I  know  or  believe,  they  will  be  content. 

And  now,  if  they  would  listen,  —  as  I  suppose  they  will  not, 
—  I  would  address  a  few  words  to  the  Southern  people. 

I  would  say  to  them :  You  consider  yourselves  a  reasonable 


50  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  a  just  people ;  and  I  consider  that  in  the  general  qualities 
of  reason  and  justice  you  are  not  inferior  to  any  other  people. 
Still,  when  you  speak  of  us  Republicans,  you  do  so  only  to  de- 
nounce us  as  reptiles,  or,  at  the  best,  as  no  better  than  outlaws. 
5  You  will  grant  a  hearing  to  pirates  or  murderers,  but  nothing 
like  it  to  "  Black  Republicans."  In  all  your  contentions  with 
one  another,  each  of  you  deems  an  unconditional  condemnation 
of  "  Black  Republicanism  "  as  the  first  thing  to  be  attended  to. 
Indeed,  such  condemnation  of  us  seems  to  be  an  indispensable 

10  prerequisite  —  license,  so  to  speak  —  among  you  to  be  admitted 
or  permitted  to  speak  at  all.  Now  can  you  or  not  be  prevailed 
upon  to  pause  and  to  consider  whether  this  is  quite  just  to  us, 
or  even  to  yourselves  ?  Bring  forward  your  charges  and  specifica- 
tions, and  then  be  patient  long  enough  to  hear  us  deny  or  justify. 

1 5  You  say  we  are  sectional.  We  deny  it.  That  makes  an  issue  ; 
and  the  burden  of  proof  is  upon  you.  You  produce  your  proof ; 
and  what  is  it  ?  Why,  that  our  party  has  no  existence  in  your 
section  —  gets  no  votes  in  your  section.  The  fact  is  substan- 
tially true  ;  but  does  it  prove  the  issue  ?  If  it  does,  then  in  case 

20  we  should,  without  change  of  principle,  begin  to  get  votes  in 
your  section,  we  should  thereby  cease  to  be  sectional.  You  can- 
not escape  this  conclusion  ;  and  yet,  are  you  willing  to  abide  by 
it  ?  If  you  are,  you  will  probably  soon  find  that  we  have  ceased 
to  be  sectional,  for  we  shall  get  votes  in  your  section  this  very 

25  year.  You  will  then  begin  to  discover,  as  the  truth  plainly  is, 
that  your  proof  does  not  touch  the  issue.  The  fact  that  we  get 
no  votes  in  your  section  is  a  fact  of  your  making,  and  not  of 
ours.  And  if  there  be  fault  in  that  fact,  that  fault  is  primarily 
yours,  and  remains  so  until  you  show  that  we  repel  you  by  some 

30  wrong  principle  or  practice.  If  we  do  repel  you  by  any  wrong 
principle  or  practice,  the  fault  is  ours ;  but  this  brings  you  to 
where  you  ought  to  have  started  —  to  a  discussion  of  the  right 
or  wrong  of  our  principle.  If  our  principle,  put  in  practice, 
would  wrong  your  section  for  the  benefit  of  ours,  or  for  any 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         51 

other  object,  then  our  principle,  and  we  with  it,  are  sectional, 
and  are  justly  opposed  and  denounced  as  such.  Meet  us,  then, 
on  the  question  of  whether  our  principle,  put  in  practice,  would 
wrong  your  section ;  and  so  meet  us  as  if  it  were  possible  that 
something  may  be  said  on  our  side.  Do  you  accept  the  chal-  5 
lenge  ?  No !  Then  you  really  believe  that  the  principle  which 
:*  our  fathers  who  framed  the  government  under  which  we  live  " 
thought  so  clearly  right  as  to  adopt  it,  and  indorse  it  again  and 
again,  upon  their  official  oaths,  is  in  fact  so  clearly  wrong  as  to 
demand  your  condemnation  without  a  moment's  consideration.     10 

Some  of  you  delight  to  flaunt  in  our  faces  the  warning  against 
sectional  parties  given  by  Washington  in  his  Farewell  Address. 
Less  than  eight  years  before  Washington  gave  that  warning,  he 
had,  as  President  of  the  United  States,  approved  and  signed  an 
act  of  Congress  enforcing  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  North-  1 5 
western  Territory,  which  act  embodied  the  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment upon  that  subject  up  to  and  at  the  very  moment  he 
penned  that  warning ;  and  about  one  year  after  he  penned  it, 
he  wrote  Lafayette  that  he  considered  that  prohibition  a  wise 
measure,  expressing  in  the  same  connection  his  hope  that  we  20 
should  at  some  time  have  a  confederacy  of  free  states. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  and  seeing  that  sectionalism  has  since 
arisen  upon  this  same  subject,  is  that  warning  a  weapon  in  your 
hands  against  us,  or  in  our  hands  against  you  ?  Could  Washing- 
ton himself  speak,  would  he  cast  the  blame  of  that  sectionalism  25 
upon  us,  who  sustain  his  policy,  or  upon  you,  who  repudiate  it  ? 
We  respect  that  warning  of  Washington,  and  we  commend  it  to 
you,  together  with  his  example  pointing  to  the  right  application 
of  it.  * 

*  The  passage  in  Washington's  Farewell  Address  which  most  ex- 
plicitly warns  against  sectionalism  is  as  follows  : 

"  It  is  of  infinite  moment  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the  im- 
mense value  of  your  National  Union  to  your  collective  and  individual 
happiness,  that  you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable 
attachment  to  it ;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  of 


52  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

But  you  say  you  are  conservative  —  eminently  conservative 
—  while  we  are  revolutionary,  destructive,  or  something  of  the 
sort.  What  is  conservatism  ?  Is  it  not  adherence  to  the  old  and 
tried,  against  the  new  and  untried  ?  We  stick  to,  contend  for, 
5  the  identical  old  policy  on  the  point  in  controversy  which  was 
adopted  by  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the  government  under 
which  we  live  "  ;  while  you  with  one  accord  reject,  and  scout, 
and  spit  upon  that  old  policy,  and  insist  upon  substituting  some- 
thing new.    True,  you  disagree  among  yourselves  as  to  what 

10  that  substitute  shall  be.  You  are  divided  on  new  propositions 
and  plans,  but  you  are  unanimous  in  rejecting  and  denouncing 
the  old  policy  of  the  fathers.  Some  of  you  are  for  reviving  the 
foreign  slave  trade ;  some  for  a  congressional  slave  code  for  the 
territories ;  some  for  Congress  forbidding  the  territories  to  pro- 

1 5  hibit  slavery  within  their  limits ;  some  for  maintaining  slavery 
in  the  territories  through  the  judiciary ;  some  for  the  "  gur-reat 
pur-rinciple  "  that  "  if  one  man  would  enslave  another,  no  third 
man  should  object,  "  fantastically  called  "  popular  sovereignty  "  ; 
but  never  a  man  among  you  is  in  favor  of  federal  prohibition 

20  of  slavery  in  federal  territories,  according  to  the  practice  of 
:'  our  fathers  who  framed  the  government  under  which  we  live." 
Not  one  of  all  your  various  plans  can  show  a  precedent  or  an 
advocate  in  the  century  within  which  our  government  originated. 
Consider,  then,  whether  your  claim  of  conservatism  for  your- 

25  selves,  and  your  charge  of  destructiveness  against  us,  are  based 
on  the  most  clear  and  stable  foundations. 

Again,  you  say  we  have  made  the  slavery  question  more 
prominent  than  it  formerly  was.  We  deny  it.  We  admit  that 
it  is  more  prominent,  but  we  deny  that  we  made  it  so.    It  was 

the  palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity ;  watching  for  its 
preservation  with  jealous  anxiety  ;  and  indignantly  frowning  upon  the 
first  dawning  of  any  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  country  from 
the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together  the 
various  parts." 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         53 

not  we,  but  you,  who  discarded  the  old  policy  of  the  fathers. 
We  resisted,  and  still  resist,  your  innovation  ;  and  thence  comes 
the  greater  prominence  of  the  question.  Would  you  have  that 
question  reduced  to  its  former  proportions  ?  Go  back  to  that  old 
policy.  What  has  been  will  be  again,  under  the  same  conditions.  5 
If  you  would  have  the  peace  of  the  old  times,  readopt  (.he  pre- 
cepts and  policy  of  the  old  times. 

You  charge  that  we  stir  up  insurrections  among  your  slaves. 
We  deny  it ;  and  what  is  your  proof  ?  Harpers  Ferry !  John 
Brown  ! !  John  Brown  was  no  Republican  ;  and  you  have  failed  10 
to  implicate  a  single  Republican  in  his  Harpers  Ferry  enter- 
prise. If  any  member  of  our  party  is  guilty  in  that  matter,  you 
know  it,  or  you  do  not  know  it.  If  you  do  know  it,  you  are 
inexcusable  for  not  designating  the  man  and  proving  the  fact. 
If  you  do  not  know  it,  you  are  inexcusable  for  asserting  it,  and  1 5 
especially  for  persisting  in  the  assertion  after  you  have  tried  and 
failed  to  make  the  proof.  You  need  not  be  told  that  persisting 
in  a  charge  which  one  does  not  know  to  be  true,  is  simply  mali- 
cious slander. 

Some  of  you  admit  that  no  Republican  designedly  aided  or  20 
encouraged  the  Harpers  Ferry  affair,  but  still  insist  that  our 
doctrines  and  declarations  necessarily  lead  to  such  results.    We 
do  not  believe  it.    We  know  we  hold  no  doctrine,  and  make  no 
declaration,  which  were  not  held  to  and  made  by  "our  fathers 
who  framed  the  government  under  which  we  live."    You  never  25 
dealt  fairly  by  us  in  relation  to  this  affair.    When  it  occurred, 
some  important  state  elections  were  near  at  hand,  and  you  were 
in  evident  glee  with  the  belief  that,  by  charging  the  blame  upon 
us,  you  could  get  an  advantage  of  us  in  those  elections.    The 
elections  came,  and  your  expectations  were  not  quite  fulfilled.  30 
Every  Republican  man  knew  that,  as  to  himself  at  least,  your 
charge  was  a  slander,  and  he  was  not  much  inclined  by  it  to 
cast  his  vote  in  your  favor.    Republican  doctrines  and  declara- 
tions are  accompanied  with  a  continual  protest  against  any 


54  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

interference  whatever  with  your  slaves,  or  with  you  about  your 
slaves.  Surely,  this  does  not  encourage  them  to  revolt.  True, 
we  do,  in  common  with  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the  government 
under  which  we  live,"  declare  our  belief  that  slavery  is  wrong  ; 
5  but  the  slaves  do  not  hear  us  declare  even  this.  For  anything  we 
say  or  do,  the  slaves  would  scarcely  know  there  is  a  Republican 
party.  I  believe  they  would  not,  in  fact,  generally  know  it  but 
for  your  misrepresentations  of  us  in  their  hearing.  In  your 
political  contests  among  yourselves,  each  faction  charges  the 

10  other  with  sympathy  with  Black  Republicanism ;  and  then,  to 
give  point  to  the  charge,  defines  Black  Republicanism  to  simply 
be  insurrection,  blood,  and  thunder  among  the  slaves. 

Slave  insurrections  are  no  more  common  now  than  they  were 
before  the  Republican  party  was  organized.    What  induced  the 

15  Southampton  insurrection,  twenty-eight  years  ago,  in  which  at 
least  three  times  as  many  lives  were  lost  as  at  Harpers  Ferry  ?  * 
You  can  scarcely  stretch  your  very  elastic  fancy  to  the  conclusion 
that  Southampton  was  "  got  up  by  Black  Republicanism."  In 
the  present  state  of  things  in  the  United  States,  I  do  not  think 

20  a  general,  or  even  a  very  extensive,  slave  insurrection  is  possible. 
The  indispensable  concert  of  action  cannot  be  attained.  The 
slaves  have  no  means  of  rapid  communication ;  nor  can  incen- 
diary freemen,  black  or  white,  supply  it.  The  explosive  mate- 
rials are  everywhere  in  parcels ;  but  there  neither  are,  nor  can 

25  be  supplied,  the  indispensable  connecting  trains. 

Much  is  said  by  Southern  people  about  the  affection  of  slaves 
for  their  masters  and  mistresses ;  and  a  part  of  it,  at  least, 
is  true.    A  plot  for  an  uprising  could  scarcely  be  devised  and 

*  In  August,  1831,  at  Southampton,  Va.,  Nat  Turner,  a  negro,  led  an 
insurrection  of  his  fellow  slaves  in  the  course  of  which  more  than  sixty- 
white  people,  most  of  them  women  and  children,  were  massacred.  The 
abolitionists  were  charged  with  instigating  the  rising,  but  their  histor- 
ians deny  the  allegation,  and  no  proof  has  come  to  light  of  their  con- 
nection with  the  crime. 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         55 

communicated  to  twenty  individuals  before  some  one  of  them, 
to  save  the  life  of  a  favorite  master  or  mistress,  would  divulge 
it.  This  is  the  rule ;  and  the  slave  revolution  in  Haiti  was  not 
an  exception  to  it,  but  a  case  occurring  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances. The  gunpowder  plot  of  British  history,  though  not  5 
connected  with  slaves,  was  more  in  point.  In  that  case,  only 
about  twenty  were  admitted  to  the  secret ;  and  yet  one  of  them, 
in  his  anxiety  to  save  a  friend,  betrayed  the  plot  to  that  friend, 
and,  by  consequence,  averted  the  calamity.  Occasional  poison- 
ings from  the  kitchen,  and  open  or  stealthy  assassinations  in  10 
the  field,  and  local  revolts  extending  to  a  score  or  so,  will  con- 
tinue to  occur  as  the  natural  results  of  slavery ;  but  no  general 
insurrection  of  slaves,  as  I  think,  can  happen  in  this  country  for 
,  a  long  time.  Whoever  much  fears,  or  much  hopes,  for  such  an 
event,  will  be  alike  disappointed.  15 

In  the  language  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  uttered  many  years  ago, 
5  It  is  still  in  our  power  to  direct  the  process  of  emancipation 
and  deportation  peaceably,  and  in  such  slow  degrees,  as  that  the 
evil  will  wear  off  insensibly ;  and  their  places  be,  pari  passu, 
filled  up  by  free  white  laborers.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  left  to  20 
force  itself  on,  human  nature  must  shudder  at  the  prospect 
held  up." 

Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  mean  to  say,  nor  do  I,  that  the  power 
of  emancipation  is  in  the  federal  government.  He  spoke  of 
Virginia;  and,  as  to  the  power  of  emancipation,  I  speak  of  the  25 
slaveholding  states  only.  The  federal  government,  however,  as 
we  insist,  has  the  power  of  restraining  the  extension  of  the 
institution  —  the  power  to  insure  that  a  slave  insurrection  shall 
never  occur  on  any  American  soil  which  is  now  free  from  slavery. 

John  Brown's  effort  was  peculiar.    It  was  not  a  slave  insur-  3° 
rection.    It  was  an  attempt  by  white  men  to  get  up  a  revolt 
among  slaves,  in  which  the  slaves  refused  to  participate.    In 
fact,  it  was  so  absurd  that  the  slaves,  with  all  their  ignorance, 
saw  plainly  enough  it  could  not  succeed.    That  affair,   in  its 


56  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

philosophy,  corresponds  with  the  many  attempts,  related  in 
history,  at  the  assassination  of  kings  and  emperors.  An  en- 
thusiast broods  over  the  oppression  of  a  people  till  he  fancies 
himself  commissioned  by  Heaven  to  liberate  them.  He  ventures 
5  the  attempt,  which  ends  in  little  else  than  his  own  execution. 
Orsini's  attempt  on  Louis  Napoleon,*  and  John  Brown's  attempt 
at  Harpers  Ferry,  were,  in  their  philosophy,  precisely  the  same. 
The  eagerness  to  cast  blame  on  old  England  in  the  one  case, 
and  on  New  England  in  the  other,  does  not  disprove  the  same- 
10  ness  of  the  two  things. 

And  how  much  would  it  avail  you,  if  you  could,  by  the  use 
of  John  Brown,  Helper's  book,f  and  the  like,  break  up  the 

*  Felice  Orsini  was  chief  of  a  band  of  desperadoes  that  attempted  the 
life  of  Napoleon  III  on  January  14,  1858.  The  plot  had  been  hatched 
in  London  and  many  Frenchmen  bitterly  charged  the  British  with 
complicity  in  the  crime. 

t  Hinton  R.  Helper,  a  North  Carolinian,  wrote,  in  1857,  "  The  Im- 
pending Crisis  of  the  South :  How  to  Meet  It,"  a  book  intended  to 
show  that  slavery  was  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  nonslavehold- 
ing  Southern  whites.  Of  this  work,  J.  F.  Rhodes  says,  in  his  "  History 
of  the  United  States  from  1850  "  : 

"  Although  the  writer's  manner  was  highly  emotional,  sincerity  flowed 
from  his  unpracticed  pen.  The  facts  were  in  the  main  correct ;  the 
arguments  based  on  them,  in  spite  of  being  disfigured  by  abuse  of  the 
slaveholders,  and  weakened  by  threats,  of  violent  action  in  a  certain 
contingency,  were  unanswerable.  .  .  .  The  burden  of  Helper's  argu- 
ment was  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  would  improve  the  material  in- 
terests of  the  South  by  fostering  manufactures  and  commerce,  thus 
greatly  increasing  the  value  of  land,  the  only  property  of  the  poor  whites, 
and  giving  them  a  larger  market  for  their  products.  The  country  and 
the  cities  would  grow ;  there  would  be  schools,  as  at  the  North,  for  the 
education  of  their  children,  and  their  rise  in  the  social  scale  would  be 
marked.  .  .  .  Had  the  poor  whites  been  able  to  read  and  comprehend 
such  an  argument,  slavery  would  have  been  doomed  to  destruction,  for 
certainly  seven  voters  out  of  ten  in  the  slave  states  were  nonslave- 
holding  whites.  It  was  this  consideration  that  made  Southern  congress- 
men so  furious,  for  to  retain  their  power  they  must  continue  to  hoodwink 
their  poorer  neighbors. 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         57 

Republican  organization?  Human  action  can  be  modified  to 
some  extent,  but  human  nature  cannot  be  changed.  There  is  a 
judgment  and  a  feeling  against  slavery  in  this  nation,  which  cast 
at  least  a  million  and  a  half  of  votes.  You  cannot  destroy  that 
judgment  and  feeling  —  that  sentiment  —  by  breaking  up  the  5 
political  organization  which  rallies  around  it.  You  can  scarcely 
scatter  and  disperse  an  army  which  has  been  formed  into  order 
in  the  face  of  your  heaviest  fire ;  but  if  you  could,  how  much 
would  you  gain  by  forcing  the  sentiment  which  created  it  out 
of  the  peaceful  channel  of  the  ballot  box  into  some  other  10 
channel  ?  What  would  that  other  channel  probably  be .?  Would 
the  number  of  John  Browns  be  lessened  or  enlarged  by  the 
operation  ? 

But  you  will  break  up  the  Union  rather  than  submit  to  a 
denial  of  your  constitutional  rights.  1 5 

That  has  a  somewhat  reckless  sound ;  but  it  would  be  palli- 
ated, if  not  fully  justified,  were  we  proposing,  by  the  mere  force 
of  numbers,  to  deprive  you  of  some  right  plainly  written  down 
in  the  Constitution.    But  we  are  proposing  no  such  thing. 

When  you  make  these  declarations  you  have  a  specific  and  20 
well-understood  allusion  to  an  assumed  constitutional  right  of 
yours  to  take  slaves  into  the  federal  territories,  and  to  hold 
them  there  as  property.    But  no  such  right  is  specifically  written 
in  the  Constitution.    That  instrument  is  literally  silent  about  any 

The  book  grew  in  favor  in  the  North,  and  in  1859,  it  was  published 
for  propagandist  purposes  in  a  cheap  edition,  which  received  the  writ- 
ten approval  of  a  number  of  Republican  congressmen,  including  John 
Sherman,  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  Speaker.  Although  Sherman 
explained  that  he  had  signed  the  indorsement  by  proxy  in  a  moment  of 
thoughtlessness,  he  could  not  dissipate  the  distrust  of  moderate  Re- 
publicans whose  votes  were  necessary  for  his  election.  A  long  contest 
ensued,  which  Sherman  ended  by  retiring  in  favor  of  William  Penning- 
ton of  New  Jersey,  who  was  thought  to  be  more  conservative.  Mr. 
Pennington  was  promptly  elected. 

In  1861  Lincoln  appointed  Helper  consul  to  Buenos  Aires. 


58  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

such  right.    We,  on  the  contrary,  deny  that  such  a  right  has  any 
existence  in  the  Constitution,  even  by  implication. 

Your  purpose,  then,  plainly  stated,  is  that  you  will  destroy 
the  government,  unless  you  be  allowed  to  construe  and  force 
5  the  Constitution  as  you  please,  on  all  points  in  dispute  between 
you  and  us.    You  will  rule  or  ruin  in  all  events. 

This,  plainly  stated,  is  your  language.  Perhaps  you  will  say 
the  Supreme  Court  has  decided  the  disputed  constitutional 
question  in  your  favor.    Not  quite  so.    But  waiving  the  lawyer's 

10  distinction  between  dictum  and  decision,  the  court  has  decided 
the  question  for  you  in  a  sort  of  way.  The  court  has  substan- 
tially said,  it  is  your  constitutional  right  to  take  slaves  into  the 
federal  territories,  and  to  hold  them  there  as  property.  When 
I  say  the  decision  was  made  in  a  sort  of  way,  I  mean  it  was 

15  made  in  a  divided  court,  by  a  bare  majority  of  the  judges,  and 
they  not  quite  agreeing  with  one  another  in  the  reasons  for 
making  it ;  that  it  is  so  made  as  that  its  avowed  supporters 
disagree  with  one  another  about  its  meaning,  and  that  it  was 
mainly  based  upon  a  mistaken  statement  of  fact  —  the  state- 

20  ment  in  the  opinion  that  "  the  right  of  property  in  a  slave  is 
distinctly  and  expressly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution." 

An  inspection  of  the  Constitution  will  show  that  the  right  of 
property  in  a  slave  is  not  "  distinctly  and  expressly  affirmed  ': 
in  it.    Bear  in  mind,   the  judges  do  not  pledge  their  judicial 

25  opinion  that  such  right  is  impliedly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution  ; 
but  they  pledge  their  veracity  that  it  is  "  distinctly  and  ex- 
pressly"  affirmed  there  —  "distinctly,"  that  is,  not  mingled 
with  anything  else  —  "expressly,"  that  is,  in  words  meaning 
just  that,  without  the  aid  of  any  inference,  and  susceptible  of  no 

30  other  meaning. 

If  they  had  only  pledged  their  judicial  opinion  that  such  right 
is  affirmed  in  the  instrument  by  implication,  it  would  be  open  to 
others  to  show  that  neither  the  word  "  slave  "  nor  "  slavery  '; 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Constitution,  nor  the  word  "  property  " 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         59 

even,  in  any  connection  with  language  alluding  to  the  things 
slave,  or  slavery  ;  and  that  wherever  in  that  instrument  the  slave 
is  alluded  to,  he  is  called  a  "  person  "  ;  and  wherever  his  master's 
legal  right  in  relation  to  him  is  alluded  to,  it  is  spoken  of  as 
'*  service  or  labor  which  may  be  due  "  —  as  a  debt  payable  in  5 
service  or  labor.  Also  it  would  be  open  to  show,  by  contempo- 
raneous history,  that  this  mode  of  alluding  to  slaves  and  slavery, 
instead  of  speaking  of  them,  was  employed  on  purpose  to  ex- 
clude from  the  Constitution  the  idea  that  there  could  be  prop- 
erty in  man.  10 

To  show  all  this  is  easy  and  certain. 

When  this  obvious  mistake  of  the  judges  shall  be  brought  to 
their  notice,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  they  will  withdraw 
the  mistaken  statement,  and  reconsider  the  conclusion  based 
upon  it  ?  lS 

And  then  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  "  our  fathers  who 
framed  the  government  under  which  we  live  "  —  the  men  who 
made  the  Constitution  —  decided  this  same  constitutional  ques- 
tion in  our  favor  long  ago :  decided  it  without  division  among 
themselves  when  making  the  decision ;  without  division  among  20 
themselves  about  the  meaning  of  it  after  it  was  made,  and,  so 
far  as  any  evidence  is  left,  without  basing  it  upon  any  mistaken 
statement  of  facts. 

Under  all  these  circumstances,  do  you  really  feel  yourselves 
justified  to  break  up  this  government  unless  such  a  court  decision  25 
as  yours  is  shall  be  at  once  submitted  to  as  a  conclusive  and  final 
rule  of  political  action  ?  But  you  will  not  abide  the  election  of  a 
Republican  President !  In  that  supposed  event,  you  say,  you  will 
destroy  the  Union  ;  and  then,  you  say,  the  great  crime  of  having 
destroyed  it  will  be  upon  us  !  That  is  cool.  A  highwayman  holds  30 
a  pistol  to  my  ear,  and  mutters  through  his  teeth,  "  Stand  and 
deliver,  or  I  shall  kill  you,  and  then  you  will  be  a  murderer ! ' 

To  be  sure,  what  the  robber  demanded  of  me  —  my  money 
—  was  my  own ;  and  I  had  a  clear  right  to  keep  it ;  but  it  was 


60  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

no  more  my  own  than  my  vote  is  my  own  ;  and  the  threat  of  death 
to  me,  to  extort  my  money,  and  the  threat  of  destruction  to  the 
Union,  to  extort  my  vote,  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  in  principle. 
A  few  words  now  to  Republicans.  It  is  exceedingly  desirable 
5  that  all  parts  of  this  great  confederacy  shall  be  at  peace,  and  in 
harmony  one  with  another.  Let  us  Republicans  do  our  part  to 
have  it  so.  Even  though  much  provoked,  let  us  do  nothing 
through  passion  and  ill  temper.  Even  though  the  Southern 
people  will  not  so  much  as  listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider 

10  their  demands,  and  yield  to  them  if,  in  our  deliberate  view  of 
our  duty,  we  possibly  can.  Judging  by  all  they  say  and  do,  and 
by  the  subject  and  nature  of  their  controversy  with  us,  let  us 
determine,  if  we  can,  what  will  satisfy  them. 

Will  they  be  satisfied  if  the  territories  be  unconditionally  sur- 

15  rendered  to  them  ?  We  know  they  will  not.  In  all  their  present 
complaints  against  us,  the  territories  are  scarcely  mentioned. 
Invasions  and  insurrections  are  the  rage  now.  Will  it  satisfy 
them  if,  in  the  future,  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  invasions  and 
insurrections  ?  We  know  it  will  not.    We  so  know,  because  we 

20  know  we  never  had  anything  to  do  with  invasions  and  insurrec- 
tions ;  and  yet  this  total  abstaining  does  not  exempt  us  from 
the  charge  and  the  denunciation. 

The  question  recurs,  What  will  satisfy  them  ?   Simply  this  : 
we  must  not  only  let  them  alone,  but  we  must  somehow  con- 

25  vince  them  that  we  do  let  them  alone.  This,  we  know  by  ex- 
perience, is  no  easy  task.  We  have  been  so  trying  to  convince 
them  from  the  very  beginning  of  our  organization,  but  with  no 
success.  In  all  our  platforms  and  speeches  we  have  constantly 
protested  our  purpose  to  let  them  alone ;  but  this  has  had  no 

30  tendency  to  convince  them.  Alike  unavailing  to  convince  them 
is  the  fact  that  they  have  never  detected  a  man  of  us  in  any 
attempt  to  disturb  them. 

These  natural  and  apparently  adequate  means  all  failing,  what 
will  convince  them  ?  This,  and  this  only  :  cease  to  call  slavery 


SLAVERY  AS  THE  FATHERS  VIEWED  IT         6 1 

wrong,  and  join  them  in  calling  it  right.  And  this  must  be 
done  thoroughly  —  done  in  acts  as  well  as  in  words.  Silence 
will  not  be  tolerated  —  we  must  place  ourselves  avowedly  with 
them.  Senator  Douglas's  new  sedition  law  must  be  enacted 
and  enforced,  suppressing  all  declarations  that  slavery  is  wrong,  5 
whether  made  in  politics,  in  presses,  in  pulpits,  or  in  private. 
We  must  arrest  and  return  their  fugitive  slaves  with  greedy 
pleasure.  We  must  pull  down  our  free-state  constitutions.  The 
whole  atmosphere  must  be  disinfected  from  all  taint  of  opposi- 
tion to  slavery,  before  they  will  cease  to  believe  that  all  their  10 
troubles  proceed  from  us. 

I  am  quite  aware  they  do  not  state  their  case  precisely  in 
this  way.  Most  of  them  would  probably  say  to  us,  '  Let  us 
alone  ;  do  nothing  to  us,  and  say  what  you  please  about  slavery." 
But  we  do  let  them  alone,  —  have  never  disturbed  them,  —  so  15 
that,  after  all,  it  is  what  we  say  which  dissatisfies  them.  They 
will  continue  to  accuse  us  of  doing,  until  we  cease  saying. 

I  am  also  aware  they  have  not  as  yet  in  terms  demanded 
the  overthrow  of  our  free-state  constitutions.  Yet  those  consti- 
tutions declare  the  wrong  of  slavery  with  more  solemn  emphasis  20 
than  do  all  other  sayings  against  it ;  and  when  all  these  other 
sayings  shall  have  been  silenced,  the  overthrow  of  these  consti- 
tutions will  be  demanded,  and  nothing  be  left  to  resist  the  de- 
mand. It  is  nothing  to  the  contrary  that  they  do  not  demand 
the  whole  of  this  just  now.  Demanding  what  they  do,  and  for  25 
the  reason  they  do,  they  can  voluntarily  stop  nowhere  short  of 
this  consummation.  Holding,  as  they  do,  that  slavery  is  morally 
right  and  socially  elevating,  they  cannot  cease  to  demand  a  full 
national  recognition  of  it  as  a  legal  right  and  a  social  blessing. 

Nor  can  we  justifiably  withhold  this  on  any  ground  save  our  30 
conviction  that  slavery  is  wrong.    If  slavery  is  right,  all  words, 
acts,  laws,  and  constitutions  against  it  are  themselves  wrong, 
and  should  be  silenced  and  swept  away.    If  it  is  right,  we  cannot 
justly  object  to  its  nationality  —  its  universality ;  if  it  is  wrong, 


62  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

they  cannot  justly  insist  upon  its  extension  —  its  enlargement. 
All  they  ask  we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right ; 
all  we  ask  they  could  as  readily  grant,  if  they  thought  it  wrong. 
Their  thinking  it  right  and  our  thinking  it  wrong  is  the  precise 
5  fact  upon  which  depends  the  whole  controversy.  Thinking  it 
right,  as  they  do,  they  are  not  to  blame  for  desiring  its  full 
recognition  as  being  right ;  but  thinking  it  wrong,  as  we  do,  can 
we  yield  to  them  ?  Can  we  cast  our  votes  with  their  view,  and 
against  our  own  ?  In  view  of  our  moral,  social,  and  political 

10  responsibilities,  can  we  do  this  ? 

Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  afford  to  let  it  alone 
where  it  is,  because  that  much  is  due  to  the  necessity  arising 
from  its  actual  presence  in  the  nation ;  but  can  we,  while  our 
votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the  national  territo- 

1 5  ries,  and  to  overrun  us  here  in  these  free  states  ? 

If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand  by  our 
duty  fearlessly  and  effectively.  Let  us  be  diverted  by  none  of 
those  sophistical  contrivances  wherewith  we  are  so  industriously 
plied  and  belabored  —  contrivances  such  as  groping  for  some 

20  middle  ground  between  the  right  and  the  wrong ;  vain  as  the 
search  for  a  man  who  should  be  neither  a  living  man  nor  a 
dead  man ;  such  as  a  policy  of  :'  don't  care  "  on  a  question 
about  which  all  true  men  do  care ;  such  as  Union  appeals  be- 
seeching true  Union  men  to  yield  to  Disunionists,  reversing  the 

25  divine  rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sinners,  but  the  righteous  to 
repentance ;  such  as  invocations  to  Washington,  imploring  men 
to  unsay  what  Washington  said  and  undo  what  Washington  did. 
Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false  accusa- 
tions against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by  menaces  of  destruc- 

30  tion  to  the  government,  nor  of  dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us 
have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith  let  us  to 
the  end  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. 


ADDRESS  IN  INDEPENDENCE  HALL  63 

FAREWELL  SPEECH  TO  HIS  FRIENDS  IN 

SPRINGFIELD 

(When  he  left  them  on  February  11,  1 861,  to  go  to  Washington  for 

his  first  inauguration) 

My  Frie?ids :  No  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can  appreciate  my 
feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this  place,  and  the  kind- 
ness of  these  people,  I  owe  everything.  Here  I  have  lived  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  and  have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old 
man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born,  and  one  is  buried.  I  5 
now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or  whether  ever  I  may  return, 
with  a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon 
Washington.  Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who 
ever  attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I 
cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him  who  can  go  with  me,  and  remain  10 
with  you,  and  be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope 
that  all  will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I 
hope  in  your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an 
affectionate  farewell. 

ADDRESS   IN  INDEPENDENCE  HALL, 
PHILADELPHIA 

(February  22,  1861) 

Mr.  Cuyler ;  I  am  filled  with  deep  emotion  at  finding  myself  15 
standing  in  this  place,  where  were  collected  together  the  wis- 
dom, the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  principle,  from  which  sprang 
the  institutions  under  which  we  live.  You  have  kindly  suggested 
to  me  that  in  my  hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to  our 
distracted  country.  I  can  say  in  return,  sir,  that  all  the  political  20 
sentiments  I  entertain  have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  draw  them,  from  the  sentiments  which  originated  in 
and  were  given  to  the  world  from  this  hall.    I  have  never  had 


64  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

a  feeling,  politically,  that  did  not  spring  from  the  sentiments 
embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  have  often  pon- 
dered over  the  dangers  which  were  incurred  by  the  men  who 
assembled  here  and  framed  and  adopted  that  Declaration.  I 
5  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were  endured  by  the  officers 
and  soldiers  of  the  army  who  achieved  that  independence.  I 
have  often  inquired  of  myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it 
was  that  kept  this  Confederacy  so  long  together.  It  was  not 
the  mere  matter  of  separation  of  the  colonies  from  the  mother- 

io  land,  but  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
which  gave  liberty  not  alone  to  the  people  of  this  country,  but 
hope  to  all  the  world,  for  all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave 
promise  that  in  due  time  the  weights  would  be  lifted  from  the 
shoulders  of  all  men,  and  that  all  should  have  an  equal  chance. 

15  This  is  the  sentiment  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Now,  my  friends,  can  this  country  be  saved  on 
that  basis  ?  If  it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  hap- 
piest men  in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it  cannot 
be  saved  upon  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful.    But  if  this 

20  country  cannot  be  saved  without  giving  up  that  principle,  I  was 
about  to  say  I  would  rather  be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than 
surrender  it.  Now,  in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs, 
there  is  no  need  of  bloodshed  and  war.  There  is  no  necessity 
for  it.    I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a  course ;  and  I  may  say  in 

25  advance  that  there  will  be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  is  forced 
upon  the  government.  The  government  will  not  use  force, 
unless  force  is  used  against  it. 

My  friends,  this  is  wholly  an  unprepared  speech.    I  did  not 
expect  to  be  called  on  to  say  a  word  when  I  came  here.    I 

30  supposed  I  was  merely  to  do  something  toward  raising  a 
flag.  I  may,  therefore,  have  said  something  indiscreet.  [Cries 
of  "No,  no."]  But  I  have  said  nothing  but  what  I  am 
willing  to  live  by,  and,  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Almighty  God, 
to  die  by. 


•     FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  65 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

(March  4,  1861) 

Fellow  Citizens  of  the  United  States :  In  compliance  with  a 
custom  as  old  as  the  government  itself,  I  appear  before  you 
to  address  you  briefly,  and  to  take  in  your  presence  the  oath 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  to  be 
taken  by  the  President  "  before  he  enters  on  the  execution  5 
of  his  office." 

I  do  not  consider  it  necessary  at  present  for  me  to  discuss 
those  matters  of  administration  about  which  there  is  no  special 
anxiety  or  excitement. 

Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of  the  South-  10 
ern  States  that  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican  administration 
their  property  and  their  peace  and  personal  security  are  to  be 
endangered.    There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause  for 
such  apprehension.     Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the 
contrary  has  all  the  while  existed  and  been  open  to  their  inspec-  1 5 
tion.    It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him 
who  now  addresses  you.     I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  those 
speeches  when  I  declare  that  "  I  have  no  purpose,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  states 
where  it  exists.    I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  20 
have  no  inclination  to  do  so."    Those  who  nominated  and  elected 
me    did    so  with    full  knowledge    that  I    had  made  this    and 
many  similar  declarations,  and  had  never  recanted  them.    And, 
more  than  this,  they  placed  in  the  platform  for  my  acceptance, 
and  as  a  law  to  themselves  and  to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic  25 
resolution  which  I  now  read : 

Resolved,  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of  the  rights  of  the  states, 
and  especially  the  right  of  each  state  to  order  and  control  its  own 
domestic  institutions  according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is 
essential  to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the   perfection  and  30 


66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

endurance  of  our  political  fabric  depend,  and  we  denounce  the  law- 
less invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil  of  any  state  or  territory,  no 
matter  under  what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of  crimes. 

I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments ;  and,  in  doing  so,  I  only 
5  press  upon  the  public  attention  the  most  conclusive  evidence 
of  which  the  case  is  susceptible,  that  th'e  property,  peace,  and 
security  of  no  section  are  to  be  in  any  wise  endangered  by  the 
now  incoming  administration.  I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection 
which,  consistently  with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  be 
10  given,  will  be  cheerfully  given  to  all  the  states  when  lawfully  de- 
manded, for  whatever  cause  —  as  cheerfully  to  one  section  as 
to  another. 

There  is  much  controversy  about  the  delivering  up  of  fugi- 
tives from  service  or  labor.   The  clause  I  now  read  is  as  plainly 
15  written  in  the  Constitution  as  any  other  of  its  provisions : 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state,  under  the  laws 

thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any  law  or 

regulation  therein  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall 

be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor 

20  may  be  due. 

It  is  scarcely  questioned  that  this  provision  was  intended  by 
those  who  made  it  for  the  reclaiming  of  what  wre  call  fugitive 
slaves ;  and  the  intention  of  the  lawgiver  is  the  law.  All  mem- 
bers of  Congress  swear  their  support  to  the  whole  Constitution 

25  — to  this  provision  as  much  as  to  any  other.  To  the  proposi- 
tion, then,  that  slaves  whose  cases  come  within  the  terms  of  this 
clause  "  shall  be  delivered  up,"  their  oaths  are  unanimous.  Now, 
if  they  would  make  the  effort  in  good  temper,  could  they  not 
with  nearly  equal  unanimity  frame  and  pass  a  law  by  means  of 

30  which  to  keep  good  that  unanimous  oath  ? 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  whether  this  clause  should 
be  enforced  by  national  or  by  state  authority;  but  surely  that 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  6j 

difference  is  not  a  very  material  one.  If  the  slave  is  to  be  sur- 
rendered, it  can  be  of  but  little  consequence  to  him  or  to  others 
by  which  authority  it  is  done.  And  should  any  one  in  any  case 
be  content  that  his  oath  shall  go  unkept  on  a  merely  unsub- 
stantial controversy  as  to  how  it  shall  be  kept  ?  5 

Again,  in  any  law  upon  this  subject,  ought  not  all  the  safe- 
guards of  liberty  known  in  civilized  and  humane  jurisprudence 
to  be  introduced,  so  that  a  free  man  be  not,  in  any  case,  sur- 
rendered as  a  slave  ?  And  might  it  not  be  well  at  the  same  time 
to  provide  by  law  for  the  enforcement  of  that  clause  in  the  10 
Constitution  which  guarantees  that  "  the  citizen  of  each  state 
shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in 
the  several  states  "  ? 

I  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental  reservations, 
and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the  Constitution  or  laws  by  15 
any  hypercritical  rules.  And  while  I  do  not  choose  now  to 
specify  particular  acts  of  Congress  as  proper  to  be  enforced, 
I  do  suggest  that  it  will  be  much  safer  for  all,  both  in  official 
and  private  stations,  to  conform  to  and  abide  by  all  those  acts 
which  stand  unrepealed,  than  to  violate  any  of  them,  trusting  20 
to  find  impunity  in  having  them  held  to  be  unconstitutional. 

It  is  seventy-two  years  since  the  first  inauguration  of  a  pres- 
ident under  our  national  Constitution.  During  that  period 
fifteen  different  and  greatly  distinguished  citizens  have,  in  suc- 
cession, administered  the  executive  branch  of  the  government.  25 
They  have  conducted  it  through  many  perils,  and  generally  with 
great  success.  Yet,  with  all  this  scope  of  precedent,  I  now 
enter  upon  the  same  task  for  the  brief  constitutional  term  of 
four  years  under  great  and  peculiar  difficulty.  A  disruption  of 
the  federal  Union,  heretofore  only  menaced,  is  now  formidably  30 
attempted. 

I  hold  that,  in  contemplation  of  universal  law  and  of  the 
Constitution,  the  union  of  these  states  is  perpetual.  Perpetuity 
is  implied,   if  not   expressed,   in   the   fundamental  law  of  all 


68  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

national  governments.  It  is  safe  to  assert  that  no  government 
proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its  organic  law  for  its  own  ter- 
mination. Continue  to  execute  all  the  express  provisions  of  our 
national  Constitution,  and  the  Union  will  endure  forever  —  it 
5  being  impossible  to  destroy  it  except  by  some  action  not  pro- 
vided for  in  the  instrument  itself. 

Again,  if  the  United  States  be  not  a  government  proper,  but 
an  association  of  states  in  the  nature  of  contract  merelv,  can 
it,  as  a  contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by  less  than  all  the 

10  parties  who  made  it  ?  One  party  to  a  contract  may  violate 
it  —  break  it,  so  to  speak ;  but  does  it  not  require  all  to  law- 
fully rescind  it  ? 

Descending  from  these  general  principles,  we  find  the  prop- 
osition   that,   in   legal  contemplation    the   Union  is  perpetual 

15  confirmed  by  the  history  of  the  Union  itself.  The  Union  is 
much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was  formed,  in  fact,  by 
the  Articles  of  Association  in  1774.  It  was  matured  and  con- 
tinued by  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776.  It  was 
further  matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen  states 

20  expressly  plighted  and  engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by 
the  Articles  of  Confederation  in  i778.iAnd,  finally,  in  1787 
one  of  the  declared  objects  for  ordaining  and  establishing  the 
Constitution  was  "  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union." 

But  if  the  destruction  of  the  Union  by  one  or  by  a  part  only  of 

25  the  states  be  lawfully  possible,  the  Union  is  less  perfect  than  be- 
fore the  Constitution,  having  lost  the  vital  element  of  perpetuity. 
It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  state  upon  its  own  mere 
motion  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union ;  that  resolves  and 
ordinances  to  that  effect  are  legally  void  ;  and  that  acts  of  vio- 

30  lence,  within  any  state  or  states,  against  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  are  insurrectionary  or  revolutionary,  according 
to  circumstances. 

I  therefore  consider  that,  in  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken ;  and  to  the  extent  of  my  ability  I 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  69 

shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  upon 
me,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the 
states.  Doing  this  I  deem  to  be  only  a  simple  duty  on  my 
part ;  and  I  shall  perform  it  so  far  as  practicable,  unless  my 
rightful  masters,  the  American  people,  shall  withhold  the  requi-  5 
site  means,  or  in  some  authoritative  manner  direct  the  con- 
trary. I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a  menace,  but  only 
as  the  declared  purpose  of  the  Union  that  it  will  constitution- 
ally defend  and  maintain  itself. 

In  doing  this  there  needs  to  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence ;  10 
and  there  shall  be  none,  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  national 
authority.    The  power  confided  to  me  will   be  used  to   hold, 
occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the 
government,  and  to  collect  the  duties  and  imposts ;  but  beyond 
what  may  be  necessary  for  these  objects,  there  will  be  no  inva-  15 
sion,  no  using  of  force  against  or  among  the  people  anywhere. 
Where  hostility  to  the  United  States,  in  any  interior  locality, 
shall  be  so  great  and  universal  as  to  prevent  competent  resi- 
dent citizens  from  holding  the  federal  offices,  there  will  be  no 
attempt  to  force  obnoxious  strangers  among  the  people  for  that  20 
object.   While  the  strict  legal  right  may  exist  in  the  government 
to  enforce  the  exercise  of  these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so 
would  be  so  irritating,  and  so  nearly  impracticable  withal,  that  I 
deem  it  better  to  forego  for  the  time  the  uses  of  such  offices. 

The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will  continue  to  be  furnished  in  25 
all  parts  of  the  Union.  So  far  as  possible,  the  people  every- 
where shall  have  that  sense  of  perfect  security  which  is  most 
favorable  to  calm  thought  and  reflection.  The  course  here  in- 
dicated will  be  followed  unless  current  events  and  experience 
shall  show  a  modification  or  change  to  be  proper,  and  in  every  30 
case  and  exigency  my  best  discretion  will  be  exercised  according 
to  circumstances  actually  existing,  and  with  a  view  and  a  hope 
of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  national  troubles  and  the  restora- 
tion of  fraternal  sympathies  and  affections. 


/ 


yo  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

That  there  are  persons  in  one  section  or  another  who  seek 

to  destroy  the  Union  at  all  events,  and  are  glad  of  any  pretext 

to  do  it,  I  will  neither  affirm  nor  deny ;  but  if  there  be  such,  I 

need  address  no  word  to  them.    To  those,  however,  who  really 

5  love  the  Union  may  I  not  speak  ? 

Before  entering  upon  so  grave  a  matter  as  the  destruction  of 
our  national  fabric,  with  all  its  benefits,  its  memories,  and  its 
hopes,  would  it  not  be  wise  to  ascertain  precisely  why  we  do  it  ? 
Will  you  hazard  so  desperate  a  step  while  there  is  any  possi- 

10  bility  that  any  portion  of  the  ills  you  fly  from  have  no  real  ex- 
istence ?  Will  you,  while  the  certain  ills  you  fly  to  are  greater 
than  all  the  real  ones  you  fly  from  —  will  you  risk  the  commis- 
sion of  so  fearful  a  mistake  ? 

All  profess  to  be  content  in  the  Union  if  all  constitutional 

15  rights  can  be  maintained.  Is  it  true,  then,  that  any  right, 
plainly  written  in  the  Constitution,  has  been  denied  ?  I  think 
not.  Happily  the  human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  no  party 
can  reach  to  the  audacity  of  doing  this.  Think,  if  you  can,  of  a 
single  instance  in  which  a  plainly  written  provision  of  the  Con- 

20  stitution  has  ever  been  denied.  If  by  the  mere  force  of  num- 
bers a  majority  should  deprive  a  minority  of  any  clearly  written 
constitutional  right,  it  might,  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  justify 
revolution  —  certainly  would  if  such  a  right  were  a  vital  one. 
But  such  is  not  our  case.    All  the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and 

25  of  individuals  are  so  plainly  assured  to  them  by  affirmations  and 
negations,  guarantees  and  prohibitions,  in  the  Constitution,  that 
controversies  never  arise  concerning  them.  But  no  organic  law 
can  ever  be  framed  with  a  provision  specifically  applicable  to 
every  question  wThich  may  occur  in  practical  administration.    No 

30  foresight  can  anticipate,  nor  any  document  of  reasonable  length 
contain,  express  provisions  for  all  possible  questions.  Shall 
fugitives  from  labor  be  surrendered  by  national  or  by  state 
authority?  The  Constitution  does  not  expressly  say.  May 
Congress  prohibit  slavery  in  the  territories  ?    The  Constitution 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  J I 

does  not  expressly  say.    Must  Congress  protect  slavery  in  the 
territories  ?    The  Constitution  does  not  expressly  say. 

From  questions  of  this  class  spring  all  our  constitutional 
controversies,  and  we  divide  upon  them  into  majorities  and 
minorities.  If  the  minority  will  not  acquiesce,  the  majority  5 
must,  or  the  government  must  cease.  There  is  no  other  alter- 
native ;  for  continuing  the  government  is  acquiescence  on  one 
side  or  the  other. 

If  a  minority  in  such  case  will  secede  rather  than  acquiesce, 
they  make  a  precedent  which  in  turn  will  divide  and  ruin  them  ;  10 
for  a  minority  of  their  own  will  secede  from  them  whenever  a 
majority  refuses  to  be  controlled  by  such  minority.  For  in- 
stance, why  may  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy  a  year 
or  two  hence  arbitrarily  secede  again,  precisely  as  portions  of 
the  present  Union  now  claim  to  secede  from  it  ?  All  who  1 5 
cherish  disunion  sentiments  are  now  being  educated  to  the 
exact  temper  of  doing  this. 

Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interests  among  the  states 
to  compose  a  new  Union,  as  to  produce  harmony  only,  and 
prevent  renewed  secession  ?  20 

Plainly,  the  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence  of  anarchy. 
A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  constitutional  checks  and  limita- 
tions, and  always  changing  easily  with  deliberate  changes  of 
popular  opinions  and  sentiments,  is  the  only  true  sovereign  of 
a  free  people.  Whoever  rejects  it  does,  of  necessity,  fly  to  an-  25 
archy  or  to  despotism.  Unanimity  is  impossible ;  the  rule  of  a 
minority,  as  a  permanent  arrangement,  is  wholly  inadmissible ; 
so  that,  rejecting  the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or  despotism 
in  some  form  is  all  that  is  left. 

I  do  not  forget  the  position,  assumed  by  some,  that  constitu-  30 
tional  questions  are  to  be  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court ;  nor 
do  I  deny  that  such  decisions  must  be  binding,  in  any  case, 
upon  the  parties  to  a  suit,  as  to  the  object  of  that  suit,  while 
they  are  also  entitled  to  very  high  respect  and  consideration  in 


72  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

all  parallel  cases  by  all  other  departments  of  the  government. 
And  while  it  is  obviously  possible  that  such  decision  may  be  erro- 
neous in  any  given  case,  still  the  evil  effect  following  it,  being 
limited  to  that  particular  case,  with  the  chance  that  it  may  be 
5  overruled  and  never  become  a  precedent  for  other  cases,  can 
better  be  borne  than  could  the  evils  of  a  different  practice.  At 
the  same  time,  the  candid  citizen  must  confess  that  if  the  policy 
of  the  government,  upon  vital  questions  affecting  the  whole 
people,  is  to  be  irrevocably  fixed  by  decisions  of  the  Supreme 

10  Court,  the  instant  they  are  made,  in  ordinary  litigation  between 
parties  in  personal  actions,  the  people  will  have  ceased  to  be 
their  own  rulers,  having  to  that  extent  practically  resigned  their 
government  into  the  hands  of  that  eminent  tribunal.  Nor  is 
there  in  this  view  any  assault  upon  the  court  or  the  judges.    It 

1 5  is  a  duty  from  which  they  may  not  shrink  to  decide  cases  prop- 
erly brought  before  them,  and  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  if  others 
seek  to  turn  their  decisions  to  political  purposes. 

One   section  of  our  country  believes  slavery  is  right,   and 
ought  to  be  extended,  while  the  other  believes  it  is  wrong,  and 

ao  ought  not  to  be  extended.  This  is  the  only  substantial  dispute. 
The  fugitive-slave  clause  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  law  for 
the  suppression  of  the  foreign  slave-trade,  are  each  as  well  en- 
forced, perhaps,  as  any  law  can  ever  be  in  a  community  where 
the  moral  sense  of  the  people  imperfectly   supports   the  law 

25  itself.  The  great  body  of  the  people  abide  by  the  dry  legal 
obligation  in  both  cases,  and  a  few  break  over  in  each.  This, 
I  think,  cannot  be  perfectly  cured ;  and  it  would  be  worse  in 
both  cases  after  the  separation  of  the  sections  than  before.  The 
foreign  slave  trade,  now  imperfectly  suppressed,  would  be  ulti- 

30  mately  revived,  without  restriction,  in  one  section,  while  fugitive 
slaves,  now  only  partially  surrendered,  would  not  be  surren- 
dered at  all  by  the  other. 

Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate.    We  cannot  remove 
our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor  build  an  impassable 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  73 

wall  between  them.  A  husband  and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and 
go  out  of  the  presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other ; 
but  the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They 
cannot  but  remain  face  to  face,  and  intercourse,  either  amicable 
or  hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  Is  it  possible,  then,  5 
to  make  that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satisfac- 
tory after  separation  than  before  ?  Can  aliens  make  treaties 
easier  than  friends  can  make  laws  ?  Can  treaties  be  more  faith- 
fully enforced  between  aliens  than  laws  can  among  friends  ? 
Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you  cannot  fight  always ;  and  when,  10 
after  much  loss  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain  on  either,  you  cease 
fighting,  the  identical  old  questions  as  to  terms  of  intercourse 
are  again  upon  you. 

This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the  people 
who  inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow  weary  of  the  exist-  15 
ing  government,  they  can  exercise  their  constitutional  right  of 
amending  it,  or  their  revolutionary  right  to  dismember  or  over- 
throw it.  I  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  many  worthy 
and  patriotic  citizens  are  desirous  of  having  the  national  Con- 
stitution amended.  While  I  make  no  recommendation  of  amend-  20 
ments,  I  fully  recognize  the  rightful  authority  of  the  people 
over  the  whole  subject,  to  be  exercised  in  either  of  the  modes 
prescribed  in  the  instrument  itself ;  and  I  should,  under  exist- 
ing circumstances,  favor  rather  than  oppose  a  fair  opportunity 
being  afforded  the  people  to  act  upon  it.  I  will  venture  to  add  25 
that  to  me  the  convention  mode  seems  preferable,  in  that  it 
allows  amendments  to  originate  with  the  people  themselves, 
instead  of  only  permitting  them  to  take  or  reject  propositions 
originated  by  others  not  especially  chosen  for  the  purpose, 
and  which  might  not  be  precisely  such  as  they  would  wish  30 
to  either  accept  or  refuse.  I  understand  a  proposed  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  —  which  amendment,  however,  I  have 
not  seen  —  has  passed  Congress,  to  the  effect  that  the  federal 
government  shall  never  interfere  with  the  domestic  institutions 


74  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  the  states,  including  that  of  persons  held  to  service.  To 
avoid  misconstruction  of  what  I  have  said,  I  depart  from  my 
purpose  not  to  speak  of  particular  amendments  so  far  as  to 
say  that,  holding  such  a  provision  to  now  be  implied  consti- 
5  tutional  law,  I  have  no  objection  to  its  being  made  express 
and  irrevocable. 

The  chief  magistrate  derives  all  his  authority  from  the  people, 
and  they  have  conferred  none  upon  him  to  fix  terms  for  the 
separation  of  the  states.    The  people  themselves  can  do  this 

10  also  if  they  choose ;  but  the  executive,  as  such,  has  nothing  to 
do  with  it.  His  duty  is  to  administer  the  present  government, 
as  it  came  to  his  hands,  and  to  transmit  it,  unimpaired  by  him, 
to  his  successor. 

Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence  in  the  ultimate 

15  justice  of  the  people  ?  Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the 
world  ?  In  our  present  differences  is  either  party  without  faith 
of  being  in  the  right  ?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with 
his  eternal  truth  and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the  North,  or  on 
yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that  justice  will  surely  prevail 

20  by  the  judgment  of  this  great  tribunal  of  the  American  people. 

By  the  frame  of  the  government  under  which  we  live,  this 

same  people  have  wisely  given  their  public  servants  but  little 

power  for  mischief ;  and  have,  with  equal  wisdom,  provided 

for  the  return  of  that  little  to  their  own  hands  at  very  short 

25  intervals.    While  the  people  retain  their  virtue  and  vigilance,  no 

administration,  by  any  extreme  of  wickedness  or  folly,  can  very 

seriously  injure  the  government  in  the  short  space  of  four  years. 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well  u*pon  this 

whole  subject.    Nothing  valuable  can  be  lost  by  taking  time.    If 

30  there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of  you  in  hot  haste  to  a  step 
which  you  would  never  take  deliberately,  that  object  will  be 
frustrated  by  taking  time  ;  but  no  good  object  can  be  frustrated 
by  it.  Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied,  still  have  the  old 
Constitution  unimpaired,  and,  on  the  sensitive  point,  the  laws 


FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  75 

of  your  own  framing  under  it;  while  the  new  administration 
will  have  no  immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to  change  either.  If 
it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the  right 
side  in  the  dispute,  there  still  is  no  single  good  reason  for  pre- 
cipitate action.  Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  5 
reliance  on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land, 
are  still  competent  to  adjust  in  the  best  way  all  our  present 
difficulty. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow  countrymen,  and  not 
in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  government  10 
will  not  assail  you.  You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being 
yourselves  the  aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in 
heaven  to  destroy  the  government,  while  I  shall  have  the  most 
solemn  one  to  "  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  it." 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  15 
must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it 
must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of 
memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to 
every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will 
yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union  when  again  touched,  as  surely  20 
they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature. 


y6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

LINCOLN'S  REPLY  TO  SECRETARY  SEWARD'S 

OFFER  TO  BECOME  THE  HEAD  OF  THE 

ADMINISTRATION 

April  i,  1 86 1 
My  Dear  Sir  : 

Since  parting  with  you  I  have  been  considering  your  paper 

dated  this  day,  and  entitled  "  Some  Thoughts  for  the  President's 

Consideration."    The  first  proposition  in  it  is,  "  First,  We  are 

at  the  end  of  a  month's  administration,  and  yet  without  a  policy 

5  either  domestic  or  foreign." 

At  the  beginning  of  that  month,  in  the  inaugural,  I  said  :  "  The 
power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  possess 
the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  government,  and  to 
collect  the  duties  and  imposts."   This  had  your  distinct  approval 
io  at  the  time ;  and,  taken  in  connection  with  the  order  I  immedi- 
ately gave  General  Scott,  directing  him  to  employ  every  means 
in  his  power  to  strengthen  and  hold  the  forts,  comprises  the 
exact  domestic  policy  you  now  urge,  with  the  single  exception 
that  it  does  not  propose  to  abandon  Fort  Sumter. 
15       Again,  I  do  not  perceive  how  the  reenforcement  of  Fort 
Sumter  would  be  done  on  a  slavery  or  a  party  issue,  while  that 
of  Fort  Pickens  would  be  on  a  more  national  and  patriotic  one. 
The  news  received  yesterday  in  regard  to  St.  Domingo  cer- 
tainly brings  a  new  item  within  the  range  of  our  foreign  policy ; 
20  but  up   to   that  time  we   have   been  preparing  circulars   and 
instructions  to  ministers  and  the  like,  all  in  perfect  harmony, 
without  even  a  suggestion  that  we  had  no  foreign  policy. 

Upon  your  closing  propositions  —  that  "  whatever  policy  we 
adopt,  there  must  be  an  energetic  prosecution  of  it." 
25       "  For  this  purpose  it  must  be  somebody's  business  to  pursue 
and  direct  it  incessantly." 

"  Either  the  President  must  do  it  himself,  and  be  all  the  while 
active  in  it,  or 


ON  THE  RELATION  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL    jy 

"  Devolve  it  on  some  member  of  his  cabinet.  Once  adopted, 
debates  on  it  must  end,  and  all  agree  and  abide  "  —  I  remark 
that  if  this  must  be  done,  I  must  do  it.  When  a  general  line  of 
policy  is  adopted,  I  apprehend  there  is  no  danger  of  its  being 
changed  without  good  reason,  or  continuing  to  be  a  subject  of  un-  5 
necessary  debate  ;  still,  upon  points  arising  in  its  progress  I  wish, 
and  suppose  I  am  entitled  to  have,  the  advice  of  all  the  cabinet. 

ON  THE  RELATION  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL 

(Extract  from  annual  message,  December  3,  1861) 

...   It  is  not  needed  nor  fitting  here  that  a  general  argu- 
ment should  be  made  in  favor  of  popular  institutions  ;  but  there 
is  one  point,  with  its  connections,  not  so  hackneyed  as  most  ic 
others,  to  which  I  ask  a  brief  attention.    It  is  the  effort  to  place 
capital  on  an  equal  footing  with,  if  not  above,  labor,  in  the 
structure  of  government.    It  is  assumed   that  labor  is   avail- 
able only  in  connection  with  capital ;  that  nobody  labors  unless 
somebody  else,  owning  capital,  somehow  by  the  use  of  it  induces  15 
him  to  labor.    This  assumed,  it  is  next  considered  whether  it  is 
best  that  capital  shall  hire  laborers,  and  thus  induce  them  to 
work  by  their  own  consent,  or  buy  them,  and  drive  them  to  it 
without  their  consent.    Having  proceeded  thus  far,  it  is  naturally 
concluded  that  all  laborers  are  either  hired  laborers  or  what  we  20 
call  slaves.    And,  further,  it  is  assumed  that  whoever  is  once  a 
hired  laborer  is  fixed  in  that  condition  for  life. 

Now,  there  is  no  such  relation  between  capital  and  labor  as 
assumed,  nor  is  there  any  such  thing  as  a  free  man  being  fixed 
for  life  in  the  condition  of  a  hired  laborer.    Both  these  assump-  25 
tions  are  false,  and  all  inferences  from  them  are  groundless. 

Labor  is  prior  to,  and  independent  of,  capital.  Capital  is 
only  the  fruit  of  labor,  and  could  never  have  existed  if  labor 
had  not  first  existed.  Labor  is  the  superior  of  capital,  and  de- 
serves much  the  higher  consideration.    Capital  has  its  rights,  30 


yS  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

which  are  as  worthy  of  protection  as  any  other  rights.  Nor  is 
it  denied  that  there  is,  and  probably  always  will  be,  a  relation 
between  labor  and  capital  producing  mutual  benefits.  The  error 
is  in  assuming  that  the  whole  labor  of  the  community  exists 
5  within  that  relation.  A  few  men  own  capital,  and  that  few  avoid 
labor  themselves,  and  with,  their  capital  hire  or  buy  another  few 
to  labor  for  them.  A  large  majority  belong  to  neither  class  — 
neither  work  for  others  nor  have  others  working  for  them.  In 
most  of  the  Southern  states  a  majority  of  the  whole  people,  of 

jo  all  colors,  are  neither  slaves  nor  masters  ;  while  in  the  Northern 
a  large  majority  are  neither  hirers  nor  hired.  Men  with  their 
families  —  wives,  sons,  and  daughters  —  work  for  themselves, 
on  their  farms,  in  their  houses,  and  in  their  shops,  taking  the 
whole  product  to  themselves,  and  asking  no  favors  of  capital  on 

15  the  one  hand,  nor  of  hired  laborers  or  slaves  on  the  other.  It 
is  not  forgotten  that  a  considerable  number  of  persons  mingle 
their  own  labor  with  capital  —  that  is,  they  labor  with  their  own 
hands  and  also  buy  or  hire  others  to  labor  for  them  ;  but  this 
is  only  a  mixed  and  not  a  distinct  class.    No  principle  stated  is 

20  disturbed  by  the  existence  of  this  mixed  class. 

Again,  as  has  already  been  said,  there  is  not,  of  necessity, 
any  such  thing  as  the  free  hired  laborer  being  fixed  to  that  con- 
dition for  life.  Many  independent  men  everywhere  in  these 
states,  a  few  years  back  in  their  lives,  were  hired  laborers.    The 

25  prudent,  penniless  beginner  in  the  world  labors  for  wages  awhile, 
saves  a  surplus  with  which  to  buy  tools  or  land  for  himself, 
then  labors  on  his  own  account  another  while,  and  at  length 
hires  another  new  beginner  to  help  him.  This  is  the  just  and 
generous  and  prosperous  system  which  opens  the  way  to  all  — 

30  gives  hope  to  all,  and  consequent  energy  and  progress  and  im- 
provement of  condition  to  all.  No  men  living  are  more  worthy 
to  be  trusted  than  those  who  toil  up  from  poverty  —  none  less 
inclined  to  take  or  touch  aught  which  they  have  not  honestly 
earned.    Let  them  beware  of  surrendering  a  political  power 


MESSAGE  TO  CONGRESS  79 


\ 


which  they  already  possess,  and  which,  if  surrendered,  will  surely 
be  used  to  close  the  door  of  advancement  against  such  as  they, 
and  to  fix  new  disabilities  and  burdens  upon  them,  till  all  of 
liberty  shall  be  lost.  .  .  . 

MESSAGE  TO   CONGRESS   RECOMMENDING 
COMPENSATED  EMANCIPATION 

(March  6,  1862) 

Felloiv  Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives :  5 
I  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  joint  resolution  by  your  honor- 
able bodies,  which  shall  be  substantially  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  United  States  ought  to  cooperate  with  any 
state  which  may  adopt  gradual  abolishment  of  slavery,  giving  to  such 
state  pecuniary  aid,  to  be  used  by  such  state,  in  its  discretion,  to  10 
compensate  for  the  inconveniences,  public  and  private,  produced  by 
such  change  of  system. 

If  the  proposition  contained  in  the  resolution  does  not  meet 
the  approval  of  Congress  and  the  country,  there  is  the  end ; 
but  if  it  does  command  such  approval,  I  deem  it  of  importance  15 
that  the  states  and  people  immediately  interested  should  be  at 
once  distinctly  notified  of  the  fact,  so  that  they  may  begin  to 
consider  whether  to  accept  or  reject  it.  The  federal  govern- 
ment would  find  its  highest  interest  in  such  a  measure,  as  one 
of  the  most  efficient  means  of  self-preservation.  The  leaders  of  20 
the  existing  insurrection  entertain  the  hope  that  this  govern- 
ment will  ultimately  be  forced  to  acknowledge  the  independence 
of  some  part  of  the  disaffected  region,  and  that  all  the  slave 
states  north  of  such  part  will  then  say,  "  The  Union  for  which 
we  have  struggled  being  already  gone,  we  now  choose  to  go  25 
with  the  Southern  section."  To  deprive  them  of  this  hope  sub- 
stantially ends  the  rebellion ;  and  the  initiation  of  emancipation 
completely  deprives  them  of  it  as  to  all  the  states  initiating  it. 


80  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  point  is  not  that  all  the  states  tolerating  slavery  would  very 
soon,  if  at  all,  initiate  emancipation ;  but  that  while  the  offer  is 
equally  made  to  all,  the  more  Northern  shall,  by  such  initiation, 
make  it  certain  to  the  more  Southern  that  in  no  event  will  the 
5  former  ever  join  the  latter  in  their  proposed  confederacy.  I 
say  '  initiation "  because,  in  my  judgment,  gradual  and  not 
sudden  emancipation  is  better  for  all.  In  the  mere  financial  or 
pecuniary  view,  any  member  of  Congress,  with  the  census  tables 
and  treasury  reports  before  him,  can  readily  see  for  himself 

10  how  very  soon  the  current  expenditures  of  this  war  would  pur- 
chase, at  fair  valuation,  all  the  slaves  in  any  named  state.  Such 
a  proposition  on  the  part  of  the  general  government  sets  up  no 
claim  of  a  right  by  federal  authority  to  interfere  with  slavery  within 
state  limits,  referring,  as  it  does,  the  absolute  control  of  the  sub- 

1 5  ject  in  each  case  to  the  state  and  its  people  immediately  interested. 
It  is  proposed  as  a  matter  of  perfectly  free  choice  with  them. 

In  the  annual  message,  last  December,  I  thought  fit  to  say, 
"  The  Union  must  be  preserved,  and  hence  all  indispensable 
means  must  be  employed."    I  said  this  not  hastily,  but  deliber- 

20  ately.  War  has  been  made,  and  continues  to  be,  an  indispen- 
sable means  to  this  end.  A  practical  reacknowledgment  of  the 
national  authority  would  render  the  war  unnecessary,  and  it 
would  at  once  cease.  If,  however,  resistance  continues,  the  war 
must  also  continue ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  all  the  inci- 

25  dents  which  may  attend  and  all  the  ruin  which  may  follow  it. 
Such  as  may  seem  indispensable,  or  may  obviously  promise  great 
efficiency,  toward  ending  the  struggle,  must  and  will  come. 

The  proposition  now  made,  though  an  offer  only,  I  hope  it 
may  be  esteemed  no  offense  to  ask  whether  the  pecuniary  con- 

30  sideration  tendered  would  not  be  of  more  value  to  the  states 
and  private  persons  concerned  than  are  the  institution  and 
property  in  it,  in  the  present  aspect  of  affairs  ? 

While  it  is  true  that  the  adoption  of  the  proposed  resolution 
would  be  merely  initiatory,  and  not  within  itself  a  practical 


LETTER  TO  HORACE  GREELEY  8 1 

measure,  it  is  recommended  in  the  hope  that  it  would  soon  lead 
to  important  practical  results.  In  full  view  of  my  great  respon- 
sibility to  my  God  and  to  my  country,  I  earnestly  beg  the 
attention  of  Congress  and  the  people  to  the  subject. 

Abraham  Lincoln 


LETTER  TO   HORACE  GREELEY 

Executive  Mansion 

_,  Washington,  August  22,  1862 

Hon.  Horace  Greeley 

Dear  Sir :  I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  19th,  addressed  to  5 
myself  through  the  New  York  Tribune.  If  there  be  in  it  any  state- 
ments or  assumptions  of  fact  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous, 
I  do  not,  now  and  here,  controvert  them.  If  there  be  in  it  any 
inferences  which  I  may  believe  to  be  falsely  drawn,  I  do  not, 
now  and  here,  argue  against  them.  If  there  be  perceptible  in  it  10 
an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I  waive  it  in  deference  to  an 
old  friend,  whose  heart  I  have  always  supposed  to  be  right. 

As  to  the  policy  I  "seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as  you  say,  I  have 
not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in  doubt. 

I  would  save  the  Union.    I  would  save  it  the  shortest  way  15 
under  the  Constitution.    The  sooner  the  national  authority  can 
be  restored,  the  nearer  the  Union  will  be  "  the  Union  as  it  was." 
If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they 
could  at  the  same  time  save  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them. 
If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union  unless  they  20 
could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with 
them.    My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the 
Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy  slavery.    If  I  could 
save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it ;  and 
if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  25 
if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I 
would  also  do  that.    What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored 
race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the  Union ;  and 
what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe  it  would  help 


S2  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

to  save  the  Union.  I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what 
I  am  doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  whenever  I 
shall  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause.  I  shall  try  to  cor- 
rect errors  when  shown  to  be  errors,  and  I  shall  adopt  new 
5  views  so  fast  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  true  views.  I  have  here 
stated  my  purpose  according  to  my  view  of  official  duty,  and  I 
intend  no  modification  of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish  that 

all  men,  ever}- where,  could  be  free. 

Yours 

A.  L^colx 

SABBATH   OBSERVANCE 
(November  15.  1S62) 
The  President,  commander  in  chief  of  the  army  and  navv, 

10  desires  and  enjoins  the  orderly  observance  of  the  Sabbath  bv 
the  officers  and  men  in  the  military  and  naval  service.  The  im- 
portance for  man  and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly  rest,  the 
sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers  and  sailors,  a  becoming  defer- 
ence to  the  best  sentiment  of  a  Christian  people,  and  a  due 

15  regard  for  the  Divine  Will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the 
army  and  navy  be  reduced  to  the  measure  of  strict  necessity. 
The  discipline  and  character  of  the  national  forces  should  not 
suffer,  nor  the  cause  they  defend  be  imperiled,  by  the  profana- 
tion of  the  day  or  name  of  the  Most  High.    "  At  this  time  of 

20  public  distress*' — adopting  the  words  of  Washington  in  1776 
— "  men  may  find  enough  to  do  in  the  service  of  God  and 
their  country  without  abandoning  themselves  to  vice  and  im- 
morality. "  The  first  general  order  issued  by  the  Father  of  his 
Country'  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  indicates  the 

25  spirit  in  which  our  institutions  were  founded  and  should  ever 
be  defended.  "  The  general  hopes  and  trusts  that  every  officer 
and  man  will  endeavor  to  live  and  act  as  becomes  a  Christian 
soldier,  defending  the  dearest  rights  and  liberties  of  his  country." 

Abraham  Lincoln 
Official :  E.  D.  Townsend,  Assistant  Adjutant  General 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  8"r 

EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE 
(December  I.  1862) 

.  .  .  Among  the  friends  of  the  Union  there  is  great  diver- 
sity of  sentiment  and  of  policy  in  regard  to  slavery  and  the 
African  race  amongst  us.  Some  would  perpetuate  slavery ; 
some  would  abolish  it  suddenly,  and  without  compensation ; 
some  would  abolish  it  gradually,  and  with  compensation ;  some  5 
would  remove  the  freed  people  from  us,  and  some  would  retain 
them  with  us ;  and  there  are  yet  other  minor  diversities.  Be- 
cause of  these  diversities  we  waste  much  strength  in  struggles 
among  ourselves.  Bv  mutual  concession  we  should  harmonize 
and  act  together.  This  would  be  compromise  ;  but  it  would  be  ic 
compromise  among  the  friends,  and  not  with  the  enemies,  of  the 
I  nion.  These  articles  are  intended  to  embody  a  plan  of  such 
mutual  concessions.  If  the  plan  shall  be  adopted,  it  is  assumed 
that  emancipation  will  follow  at  least  in  several  of  the  states. 

As  to  the  first  article,  the  main  points  are :  first,  the  emanci-  1 5 
pation ;  secondly,  the  length  of  time  for  consummating  it  — 
thirty-seven  years :  and.  thirdly,  the  compensation. 

The  emancipation  will  be  unsatisfactory  to  the  advocates  of 
perpetual  slaverv :  but  the  length  of  time  should  greatly  miti- 
gate their  dissatisfaction.  The  time  spares  both  races  from  the  20 
evils  of  sudden  derangement  —  in  fact,  from  the  necessity  of 
any  derangement :  while  most  of  those  whose  habitual  course 
of  thought  will  be  disturbed  by  the  measure  will  have  passed 
away  before  its  consummation.  They  will  never  see  it.  Another 
class  will  hail  the  prospect  of  emancipation,  but  will  deprecate  25 
the  length  of  time.  They  will  feel  that  it  gives  too  little  to  the 
now  living  slaves.  But  it  really  gives  them  much.  It  saves 
them  from  the  vasrant  destitution  which  must  larsrelv  attend 

o  o 

immediate  emancipation  in  localities  where  their  numbers  are 
very  great ;  and  it  gives  the  inspiring  assurance  that  their  pos-  30 
terity  shall  be  free  forever.    The  plan  leaves  to  each  state 


84  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

choosing  to  act  under  it  to  abolish  slavery  now,  or  at  the  end 
of  the  century,  or  at  any  intermediate  time,  or  by  degrees  ex- 
tending over  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  period  ;  and  it  obliges 
no  two  states  to  proceed  alike.  It  also  provides  for  compensa- 
5  tion,  and  generally  the  mode  of  making  it.  This,  it  would  seem, 
must  further  mitigate  the  dissatisfaction  of  those  who  favor 
perpetual  slavery,  and  especially  of  those  who  are  to  receive 
the  compensation.  Doubtless  some  of  those  who  are  to  pay, 
and  not  to  receive,  will  object.    Yet  the  measure  is  both  just 

10  and  economical.  In  a  certain  sense  the  liberation  of  slaves  is 
the  destruction  of  property  —  property  acquired  by  descent  or 
by  purchase,  the  same  as  any  other  property.  It  is  no  less  true 
for  having  been  often  said,  that  the  people  of  the  South  are  not 
more  responsible  for  the  original  introduction  of  this  property 

1 5  than  are  the  people  of  the  North ;  and  when  it  is  remembered 
how  unhesitatingly  we  all  use  cotton  and  sugar  and  share  the 
profits  of  dealing  in  them,  it  may  not  be  quite  safe  to  say  that 
the  South  has  been  more  responsible  than  the  North  for'  its 
continuance.    If,  then,  for  a  common  object  this  property  is  to 

20  be  sacrificed,  is  it  not  just  that  it  be  done  at  a  common  charge  ? 

And  if,  with  less  money,  or  money  more  easily  paid,  we  can 

preserve  the  benefits  of  the  Union  by  this  means  than  we  can 

by  the  war  alone,  is  it  not  also  economical  to  do  it  ?  Let  us 

consider  it,  then.    Let  us  ascertain  the  sum  we  have  expended 

25  in  the  war  since  compensated  emancipation  was  proposed  last 
March,  and  consider  whether,  if  that  measure  had  been  promptly 
accepted  by  even  some  of  the  slave  states,  the  same  sum  would 
not  have  done  more  to  close  the  war  than  has  been  otherwise 
done.    If  so,  the  measure  would  save  money,  and  in  that  view 

30  would  be  a  prudent  and  economical  measure.  Certainly  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  pay  something  as  it  is  to  pay  nothing ;  but  it  is 
easier  to  pay  a  large  sum  than  it  is  to  pay  a  larger  one.  And 
it  is  easier  to  pay  any  sum  when  we  are  able,  than  it  is  to 
pay  it  before  we  are  able.    The  war  requires  large  sums,  and 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  85 

requires  them  at  once.  The  aggregate  sum  necessary  for  com- 
pensated emancipation  of  course  would  be  large.  But  it  would 
require  no  ready  cash,  nor  the  bonds  even,  any  faster  than  the 
emancipation  progresses.  This  might  not,  and  probably  would 
not,  close  before  the  end  of  the  thirty-seven  years.  At  that  5 
time  we  shall  probably  have  100,000,000  of  people  to  share 
the  burden,  instead  of  31,000,000  as  now.  And  not  only  so, 
but  the  increase  of  our  population  may  be  expected  to  continue 
for  a  long  time  after  that  period,  as  rapidly  as  before,  because 
our  territory  will  not  have  become  full.  I  do  not  state  this  in-  10 
considerately.  At  the  same  ratio  of  increase  which  we  have 
maintained,  on  an  average,  from  our  first  national  census  in 
1790  until  that  of  i860,  we  should  in  1900  have  a  population 
of  103,208,415.  And  why  may  we  not  continue  that  ratio  far 
beyond  that  period  ?  Our  abundant  room  —  our  broad  national  1 5 
homestead  —  is  our  ample  resource.  Were  our  territory  as 
limited  as  are  the  British  Isles,  very  certainly  our  population 
could  not  expand  as  stated.  Instead  of  receiving  the  foreign- 
born  as  now,  we  should  be  compelled  to  send  part  of  the 
native-born  away.  But  such  is  not  our  condition.  We  have  20 
2,963,000  square  miles.  Europe  has  3,800,000,  with  a  popula- 
tion averaging  73-g-  persons  to  the  square  mile.  Why  may  not 
our  country,  at  the  same  time,  average  as  many  ?  Is  it  less 
fertile  ?  Has  it  more  waste  surface,  by  mountains,  rivers,  lakes, 
deserts,  or  other  causes  ?  Is  it  inferior  to  Europe  in  any  natural  25 
advantage  ?  If,  then,  we  are  at  some  time  to  be  as  populous  as 
Europe,  how  soon  ?  As  to  when  this  may  be,  we  can  judge  by 
the  past  and  the  present ;  as  to  when  it  will  be,  if  .ever,  depends 
much  on  whether  we  maintain  the  Union.  Several  of  our  states 
are  already  above  the  average  of  Europe —  7  3  J-  to  the  square  30 
mile.  Massachusetts  has  157;  Rhode  Island,  133;  Connecticut, 
99  ;  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  each  80.  Also  two  other  great 
states,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  are  not  far  below,  the  former 
having  6^   and  the  latter  59.    The  states  already  above  the 


86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

European  average,  except  New  York,  have  increased  in  as 
rapid  a  ratio  since  passing  that  point  as  ever  before,  while  no 
one  of  them  is  equal  to  some  other  parts  of  our  country  in 
natural  capacity  for  sustaining  a  dense  population. 
5  Taking  the  nation  in  the  aggregate,  we  find  its  population 
and  ratio  of  increase  for  the  several  decennial  periods  to  be  as 
follows  : 

179° 3,929,827 

1800 5,30 5,937  35.02  per  cent  ratio  of  increase 

1S10 7,239>8l4  36.45 

1820 95638,i3i  33-13 

1830 12,866,020  33.49        "            " 

1840 17,069,453  32.67 

1850 23,191,876  35.87        ."            " 

i860 31,443,790  35.58 

This  shows  an  average  decennial  increase  of  34.60  per  cent 
in  population  through  the  seventy  years  from  our  first  to  our 
10  last  census  yet  taken.  .  It  is  seen  that  the  ratio  of  increase  at  no 
one  of  these  seven  periods  is  either  two  per  cent  below  or  two 
per  cent  above  the  average,  thus  showing  how  inflexible,  and 
consequently  how  reliable,  the  law  of  increase  in  our  case  is. 
Assuming  that  it  will  continue,  gives  the  following  results : 

l87° 42,323,341 

1880 56,967,216 

1890 76,677,872 

1900 103,208,415 

1910 138,918,526 

T92° 186,984,335 

193° 251,680,914 

15  These  figures  show  that  our  country  may  be  as  populous  as 
Europe  now  is  at  some  point  between  1920  and  1930  —  say 
about  1925  — our  territory,  at  73-^  persons  to  the  square  mile, 
being  of  capacity  to  contain  217,186,000. 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  87 

And  we  will  reach  this,  too,  if  we  do  not  ourselves  relinquish 
the  chance  by  the  folly  and  evils  of  disunion,  or  by  long  and 
exhausting  war  springing  from  the  only  great  element  of  national 
discord  among  us.  While  it  cannot  be  foreseen  exactly  how 
much  one  huge  example  of  secession,  breeding  lesser  ones  in-  5 
definitely,  would  retard  population,  civilization,  and  prosperity, 
no  one  can  doubt  that  the  extent  of  it  would  be  very  great  and 
injurious. 

The  proposed  emancipation  would  shorten  the  war,  perpetu- 
ate peace,  insure  this  increase  of  population,  and  proportionately  ia 
the  wealth  of  the  country.    With  these,  we  should  pay  all  the 
emancipation  would  cost,  together  with  our  other  debt,  easier 
than  we  should  pay  our  other  debt  without  it.   If  we  had  allowed 
our  old  national  debt  to  run  at  six  per  cent  per  annum,  simple 
interest,  from  the  end  of  our  Revolutionary  struggle  until  to-  15 
day,  without  paying  anything  on  either  principle  or  interest, 
each  man  of  us  would  owe  less  upon  that  debt  now  than  each 
man  owed  upon  it  then ;  and  this  because  our  increase  of  men, 
through  the  whole  period,  has  been  greater  than  six  per  cent 
—  has  run  faster  than  the  interest  upon  the  debt.    Thus,  time  20 
alone  relieves  a  debtor  nation,  so  long  as  its  population  increases 
faster  than  unpaid  interest  accumulates  on  its  debt. 

This  fact  would  be  no  excuse  for  delaying  payment  of  what 
is  justly  due ;  but  it  shows  the  great  importance  of  time  in  this 
connection  —  the  great  advantage  of  a  policy  by  which  we  shall  25 
not  have  to  pay,  until  we  number  a  hundred  millions,  what  by 
a  different  policy  we  would  have  to  pay  now,  when  we  number 
but  thirty-one  millions.  In  a  word,  it  shows  that  a  dollar  will 
be  much  harder  to  pay  for  the  war  than  will  be  a  dollar  for 
emancipation  on  the  proposed  plan.  And  then  the  latter  will  30 
cost  no  blood,  no  precious  life.    It  will  be  a  saving  of  both. 

As  to  the  second  article,  I  think  it  would  be  impracticable  to 
return  to  bondage  the  class  of  persons  therein  contemplated. 
Some  of    them   doubtless,   in  the    property   sense,   belong  to 


88  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

loyal  owners ;  and  hence  provision  is  made  in  this  article  for 
compensating  such. 

The  third  article  relates  to  the  future  of  the  freed  people.  It 
does  not  oblige,  but  merely  authorizes,  Congress  to  aid  in  col- 
5  onizing  such  as  may  consent.  This  ought  not  to  be  regarded 
as  objectionable,  on  the  one  hand  or  on  the  other,  insomuch 
as  it  comes  to  nothing  unless  by  the  mutual  consent  of  the 
people  to  be  deported,  and  the  American  voters  through  their 
representatives  in  Congress. 

io       I  cannot  make  it  better  known  than  it  already  is,  that  I 

strongly  favor  colonization.    And  yet  I  wish  to  say  there  is  an 

objection  urged  against  free  colored  persons  remaining  in  the 

country  which  is  largely  imaginary,  if  not  sometimes  malicious. 

It  is  insisted  that  their  presence  would  injure  and  displace 

1 5  white  labor  and  white  laborers.  If  there  ever  could  be  a  proper 
time  for  mere  catch  arguments,  that  time  surely  is  not  now.  In 
times  like  the  present,  men  should  utter  nothing  for  which  they 
would  not  willingly  be  responsible  through  time  and  in  eternity. 
Is  it  true,  then,  that   colored   people  can  displace   any  more 

20  white  labor  by  being  free  than  by  remaining  slaves  ?  If  they 
stay  in  their  old  places,  they  jostle  no  white  laborers ;  if  they 
leave  their  old  places,  they  leave  them  open  to  white  laborers. 
Logically,  there  is  neither  more  nor  less  of  it.  Emancipation, 
even  without  deportation,  would  probably  enhance  the  wages  of 

25  white  labor,  and  very  surely  would  not  reduce  them.  Thus,  the 
customary  amount  of  labor  would  still  have  to  be  performed ; 
the  freed  people  would  surely  not  do  more  than  their  old  propor- 
tion of  it,  and  very  probably  for  a  time  would  do  less,  leaving 
an  increased  part  to  white  laborers,  bringing  their  labor  into 

30  greater  demand,  and  consequently  enhancing  the  wages  of  it. 
With  deportation,  even  to  a  limited  extent,  enhanced  wages  to 
white  labor  is  mathematically  certain.  Labor  is  like  any  other 
commodity  in  the  market  —  increase  the  demand  for  it,  and 
you  increase  the  price  of  it.   Reduce  the  supply  of  black  labor  by 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  89 

colonizing  the  black  laborer  out  of  the  country,  and  by  precisely  so 
much  you  increase  the  demand  for,  and  wages  of,  white  labor. 

But  it  is  dreaded  that  the  freed  people  will  swarm  forth  and 
cover  the  whole  land  ?  Are  they  not  already  in  the  land  ?  Will 
liberation  make  them  any  more  numerous  ?  Equally  distributed  5 
among  the  whites  of  the  whole  country,  and  there  would  be  but 
one  colored  to  seven  whites.    Could  the  one  in  any  way  greatly 
disturb  the  seven?  There  are  many  communities  now  having 
more  than  one  free  colored  person  to  seven  whites,  and  this 
without  any  apparent  consciousness  of  evil  from  it.    The  Dis-  10 
trict  of  Columbia,  and  the  states  of  Maryland  and  Delaware, 
are  all  in  this  condition.    The  District  has  more  than  one  free 
colored  to  six  whites ;  and  yet  in  its  frequent  petitions  to  Con- 
gress I  believe  it  has  never  presented  the  presence  of  free 
colored   persons   as   one   of  its   grievances.     But  why   should  15 
emancipation  south  send  the  free  people  North  ?  People  of  any 
color  seldom  run  unless  there  be  something  to  run  from.    Here- 
tofore colored  people,   to  some  extent,  have  fled  North  from 
bondage ;  and  now,  perhaps,  from  both  bondage  and  destitu- 
tion.   But  if  gradual  emancipation  and  deportation  be  adopted,  20 
they  will  have  neither  to  flee  from.    Their  old  masters  will  give 
them  wages  at  least  until  new  laborers  can  be  procured ;  and 
the  freedmen,  in  turn,  will  gladly  give  their  labor  for  the  wages 
till  new  homes  can  be  found  for  them  in  congenial  climes  and 
with  people  of  their  own  blood  and  race.    This  proposition  can  25 
be  trusted  on  the  mutual  interests  involved.    And,  in  any  event, 
cannot  the  North  decide  for  itself  whether  to  receive  them  ? 

Again,  as  practice  proves  more  than  theory,  in  any  case,  has 
there  been  any  irruption  of  colored  people  northward  because 
of  the  abolishment  of  slavery  in  this  District  last  spring  ?  30 

What  I  have  said  of  the  proportion  of  free  colored  persons 
to  the  whites  in  the  District  is  from  the  census  of  i860,  having 
no  reference  to  persons  called  contrabands,  nor  to  those  made 
free  by  the  act  of  Congress  abolishing  slavery  here. 


90  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  plan  consisting  of  these  articles  is  recommended,  not  but 
that  a  restoration  of  the  national  authority  would  be  accepted 
without  its  adoption. 

Nor  will  the  war,  nor  proceedings  under  the  proclamation  of 
5  September  22,  1862,  be  stayed  because  of  the  recommendation 
of  this  plan.  Its  timely  adoption,  I  doubt  not,  would  bring  res- 
toration, and  thereby  stay  both. 

And,  notwithstanding  this  plan,  the  recommendation  that 
Congress  provide  by  law  for  compensating  any  state  which 
10  may  adopt  emancipation  before  this  plan  shall  have  been  acted 
upon,  is  hereby  earnestly  renewed.  Such  would  be  only  an  ad- 
vance part  of  the  plan,  and  the  same  arguments  apply  to  both. 

This  plan  is  recommended  as  a  means,  not  in  exclusion  of, 
but  additional  to,  all  others  for  restoring  and  preserving  the 
15  national  authority  throughout  the  Union.  The  subject  is  pre- 
sented exclusively  in  its  economical  aspect.  The  plan  would,  I 
am  confident,  secure  peace  more  speedily,  and  maintain  it  more 
permanently,  than  can  be  done  by  force  alone  ;  while  all  it  would 
cost,  considering  amounts,  and  manner  of  payment,  and  times 
20  of  payment,  would  be  easier  paid  than  will  be  the  additional 
cost  of  the  war  if  we  rely  solely  upon  force.  It  is  much  —  very 
much  —  that  it  would  cost  no  blood  at  all. 

The  plan  is  proposed  as  permanent  constitutional  law.  It 
cannot  become  such  without  the  concurrence  of,  first,  two  thirds 
25  of  Congress  and,  afterward,  three  fourths  of  the  states.  The 
requisite  three  fourths  of  the  states  will  necessarily  include 
seven  of  the  slave  states.  Their  concurrence,  if  obtained,  will 
give  assurance  of  their  severally  adopting  emancipation  at  no 
very  distant  day  upon  the  new  constitutional  terms.  This  assur- 
30  ance  would  end  the  struggle  now,  and  save  the  Union  forever. 

I  do  not  forget  the  gravity  which  should  characterize  a  paper 
addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the  nation  by  the  chief  magis- 
trate of  the  nation.  Nor  do  I  forget  that  some  of  you  are  my 
seniors,  nor  that  many  of  you  have  more  experience  than  I  in 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  9 1 

the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  Yet  I  trust  that  in  view  of  the  great 
responsibility  resting  upon  me,  you  will  perceive  no  want  of  re- 
spect to  yourselves  in  any  undue  earnestness  I  may  seem  to  display. 

Is  it  doubted,   then,  that  the  plan  I  propose,  if  adopted, 
would    shorten  the  war,   and   thus   lessen  its  expenditure  of  5 
money  and  of  blood  ?    Is  it  doubted  that  it  would  restore  the 
national  authority  and  national  prosperity,  and  perpetuate  both 
indefinitely  ?    Is  it  doubted  that  we  here  —  Congress  and  exec- 
utive —  can  secure  its  adoption  ?     Will  not  the  good   people 
respond  to  a  united  and  earnest  appeal  from  us  ?    Can  we,  can  ig 
they,  by  any  other  means  so  certainly  or  so  speedily  assure 
these  vital  objects  ?    We  can  succeed  only  by  concert.    It  is  not 
"  Can  any  of  us  imagine  better  ?  "  but,  "  Can  we  all  do  better  ? ': 
Object  whatsoeveTls^possible,  still  the  question  occurs,  "  Can 
we  do  better?"    The  dogmas  of  the  quiet  past  are  inadequate  15 
to  the  stormy  present.   The  occasion  is  piled  high  with  diffi- 
culty, and  we  must  rise  with  the  occasion.    As  our  case  is  new, 
so  we  must  think  anew  and  act  anew.    We  must  disenthrall 
ourselves,  and  then  we  shall  save  our  country. 

Fellow  citizens,  we  cannot  escape  history.    We  of  this  Con-  20 
gress  and  this  administration  will  be  remembered  in  spite  of 
ourselves.    No  personal  significance  or  insignificance  can  spare 
one  or  another  of  us.    The  fiery  trial  through  which  we  pass 
will  light  us  down,  in  honor  or  dishonor,  to  the  latest  genera- 
tion.   We  say  we  are  for  the  Union.    The  world  will  not  forget  25 
that  we  sav  this.    We  know  how  to  save  the  Union.    The  world 
knows  we  do  know  how  to  save  it.    We  —  even  we  here  — 
hold  the  power  and  bear  the  responsibility.    In  giving  freedom 
to  the  slave,  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free  —  honorable  alike 
in  what  we  give  and  what  we  preserve.    We  shall  nobly  save  30 
or  meanly  lose  the  last,  best  hope  of  earth.    Other  means  may 
succeed  ;  this  could  not  fail.    The  way  is  plain,  peaceful,  gener- 
ous, just  —  a  way  which,  if   followed,  the  world  will  forever 

applaud,  and  God  must  forever  bless. 

Abraham  Lincoln 


92  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

(January  I,  1863) 

Whereas,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  a 
proclamation  was  issued  by  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
containing,  among  other  things,  the  following,  to  wit : 

5  That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held  as  slaves 
within  any  state,  or  designated  part  of  a  state,  the  people  whereof 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then, 
thenceforward,  and  forever  free ;  and  the  Executive  Government  of 

10  the  United  States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authority  thereof, 
will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will 
do  no  act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any 
efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual  freedom. 

That  the  executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January  aforesaid,  by 

15  proclamation,  designate  the  states  and  parts  of  states,  if  any,  in 
which  the  people  thereof  respectively  shall  then  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States  ;  and  the  fact  that  any  state,  or  the  people 
thereof,  shall  on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  by  members  chosen  thereto  at  elections  wherein 

20  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  such  state  shall  have  participated, 
shall  in  the  absence  of  strong  countervailing  testimony  be  deemed 
conclusive  evidence  that  such  state  and  the  people  thereof  are  not 
then  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States. 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United 
25  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  as  commander  in 
chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  in  time  of 
actual  armed  rebellion  against  the  authority  and  government  of 
the  United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  measure 
for  suppressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of  January, 
30  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
three,  and  in  accordance  with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly 
proclaimed  for  the  full  period  of  100  days  from  the  day  first 
above  mentioned,  order  and  designate  as  the  states  and  parts  of 


EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  93 

states  wherein  the  people  thereof,  respectively,  are  this  day  in 
rebellion  against  the  United  States,  the  following,  to  wit : 

Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana  (except  the  parishes  of  St.  Ber- 
nard, Plaquemines,  Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James, 
Ascension,  Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  Lafourche,  St.  Mary,  St.  5 
Martin,  and  Orleans,  including  the  city  of  New  Orleans),  Mis- 
sissippi, Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North 
Carolina,  and  Virginia  (except  the  forty-eight  counties  desig- 
nated as  West  Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of  Berkeley, 
Accomac,  Northampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York,  Princess  Ann,  10 
and  Norfolk,  including  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth), 
and  which  excepted  parts  are  for  the  present  left  precisely  as  if 
this  proclamation  were  not  issued. 

And  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the  purpose  aforesaid, 
I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  15 
said  designated  states  and  parts  of  states  are,  and  henceforward 
shall  be,  free ;  and  that  the  executive  government  of  the  United 
States,  including  the  military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will 
recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  said  persons. 

And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  declared  to  be  free  20 
to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless  in  necessary  self-defense  ; 
and  I  recommend  to  them  that,  in  all  cases  when  allowed,  they 
labor  faithfully  for  reasonable  wages. 

And  I  further  declare  and  make  known  that  such  persons  of 
suitable  condition  will  be  received  into  the  armed  service  of  the  25 
United  States  to  garrison   forts,  positions,  stations,  and  other 
places,  and  to  man  vessels  of  all  sorts'  in  said  service. 

And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice, 
warranted  by  the  Constitution  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke 
the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  30 
Almighty  God. 

In  witness,  etc.  Abraham  Lincoln 

By  the  President :  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State 


94  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

LETTER  TO  GENERAL  JOSEPH  HOOKER 

(January  26,  1863) 
General : 

I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
Of  course  I  have  done  this  upon  what  appear  to  me  to  be 
sufficient  reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  know  that 
there  are  some  things  in  regard  to  which  I  am  not  quite  satis- 
5  fied  with  you.  I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skillful  soldier, 
which  of  course  I  like.  I  also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics 
with  your  profession,  in  which  you  are  right.  You  have  con- 
fidence in  yourself,  which  is  a  valuable  if  not  an  indispensable 
quality.    You  are  ambitious,  which,  within  reasonable  bounds, 

10  does  good  rather  than  harm ;  but  I  think  that  during  General 
Burnside's  command  of  the  army  you  have  taken  counsel  of 
your  ambition  and  thwarted  him  as  much  as  you  could,  in  which 
you  did  a  great  wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  most  meritorious 
and  honorable  brother  officer.    I  have  heard,  in  such  a  way  as 

15  to  believe  it,  of  your  recently  saying  that  both  the  army  and 
the  government  needed  a  dictator.  Of  course  it  was  not  for 
this,  but  in  spite  of  it,  that  I  have  given  you  the  command. 
Only  those  generals  who  gain  successes  can  set  up  dictators. 
What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  military  success,  and  I  will  risk  the 

20.  dictatorship.  The  government  will  support  you  to  the  utmost 
of  its  ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  it  has  done 
and  will  do  for  all  commanders.  I  much  fear  that  the  spirit 
which  you  have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of  criticizing  their 
commander  and  withholding  confidence  from  him,  will  now  turn 

25  upon  you.  I  shall  assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put  it  down. 
Neither  you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive  again,  could  get  any 
good  out  of  an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it ;  and  now 
beware  of  rashness.  Beware  of  rashness,  but  with  energy  and 
sleepless  vigilance  go  forward  and  give  us  victories. 

Yours  very  truly 

A.  Lincoln 


PROCLAMATION  FOR  A  NATIONAL  FAST  DAY      95 

PROCLAMATION  FOR  A  NATIONAL  FAST  DAY 

(March  30,  1863) 

Whereas,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  devoutly  recog- 
nizing the  supreme  authority  and  just  government  of  Almighty 
God  in  all  the  affairs  of  men  and  of  nations,  has  by  a  resolution 
requested  the  President  to  designate  and  set  apart  a  day  for 
national  prayer  and  humiliation  :  5 

And  whereas,  it  is  the  duty  of  nations  as  well  as  of  men  to 
own  their  dependence  upon  the  overruling  power  of  God ;  to 
confess  their  sins  and  transgressions  in  humble  sorrow,  yet  with 
assured  hope  that  genuine  repentance  will  lead  to  mercy  and 
pardon ;  and  to  recognize  the  sublime  truth,  announced  in  the  10 
Holy  Scriptures  and  proven  by  all  history,  that  those  nations 
only  are  blessed  whose  God  is  the  Lord : 

And  insomuch  as  we  know  that  by  his  divine  law  nations, 
like  individuals,  are  subjected  to  punishments  and  chastisements 
in  this  world,  may  we  not  justly  fear  that  the  awful  calamity  of  15 
civil  war  which  now  desolates  the  land  may  be  but  a  punishment 
inflicted  upon  us  for  our  presumptuous  sins,  to  the  needful  end 
of  our  national  reformation  as  a  whole  people  ?  We  have  been 
the  recipients  of  the  choicest  bounties  of  Heaven.  We  have 
been  preserved,  these  many  years,  in  peace  and  prosperity.  We  20 
have  grown  in  numbers,  wealth,  and  power  as  no  other  nation 
has  ever  grown ;  but  we  have  forgotten  God.  We  have  for- 
gotten the  gracious  hand  which  preserved  us  in  peace,  and 
multiplied  and  enriched  and  strengthened  us ;  and  we  have 
vainly  imagined,  in  the  deceitfulness  of  our  hearts,  that  all  25 
these  blessings  were  produced  by  some  superior  wisdom  and 
virtue  of  our  own.  Intoxicated  with  unbroken  success,  we  have 
become  too  self-sufficient  to  feel  the  necessity  of  redeeming  and 
preserving  grace,  too  proud  to  pray  to  the  God  that  made  us : 

It  behooves  us,  then,  to  humble  ourselves  before  the  offended  30 
Power,  to  confess  our  national  sins,  and  to  pray  for  clemency 
and  forgiveness ; 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Now,  therefore,  in  compliance  with  the  request,  and  fully 
concurring  in  the  views,  of  the  Senate,  I  do  by  this  my 
proclamation  designate  and  set  apart  Thursday,  the  30th  day 
of  April,  1863,  as  a  day  of  national  humiliation,  fasting,  and 
5  prayer.  And  I  do  hereby  request  all  the  people  to  abstain  on 
that  day  from  their  ordinary  secular  pursuits,  and  to  unite  at 
their  several  places  of  public  worship  and  their  respective  homes 
in  keeping  the  day  holy  to  the  Lord,  and  devoted  to  the  humble 
discharge  of  the  religious  duties  proper  to  that  solemn  occasion. 

10  All  this  being  done  in  sincerity  and  truth,  let  us  then  rest 
humbly  in  the  hope  authorized  by  the  divine  teachings,  that 
the  united  cry  of  the  nation  will  be  heard  on  high,  and  an- 
swered with  blessings  no  less  than  the  pardon  of  our  national 
sins,  and  the  restoration  of  our  now  divided  and  suffering  coun- 

15  try  to  its  former  happy  condition  of  unity  and  peace. 

In  witness,  etc. 

Abraham  Lincoln 

By  the  President : 

William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State 

LETTER  TO  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

, ,  ~  ~  Executive  Mansion 

Major  General  Grant  . 

Wasnington,  July  13,  1863 
My  dear  General : 

I  do  not  remember  that  you  and  I  ever  met  personally.  I 
write  this  now  as  a  grateful  acknowledgment  for  the  almost  in- 
estimable service  you  have  done  the  country.  I  wish  to  say  a 
word  further.    When  you  first  reached  the  vicinity  of  Vicksburg, 

20  I  thought  you  should  do  what  you  finally  did  —  march  the  troops 
across  the  neck,  run  the  batteries  with  the  transports,  and  thus 
go  below ;  and  I  never  had  any  faith,  except  a  general  hope 
that  you  knew  better  than  I,  that  the  Yazoo  Pass  expedition 
and  the  like  could  succeed.    When  you  got  below  and  took  Port 

25  Gibson,  Grand  Gulf,  and  vicinity,  I  thought  you  should  go  down 


THE  WAR  AND  EMANCIPATION  97 

the  river  and  join  General  Banks,  and  when  you  turned  north- 
ward, east  of  the  Big  Black,  I  feared  it  was  a  mistake.  I  now 
wish  to   make  the  personal  acknowledgment  that  you  were 

right  and  I  was  wrong. 

Yours  very  truly 

A.  Lincoln 

LETTER  STATING  HIS  POSITION  IN  REGARD  TO 
THE  WAR  AND  TO  EMANCIPATION 

Executive  Mansion 
Washington,  August  26,  1863 
Hon.  James  C.  Conkling,  Esq. 

My  dear  Sir : 

Your  letter  inviting  me  to  attend  a  mass  meeting  of  uncondi-  5 
tional  Union  men,  to  be  held  at  the  capital  of  Illinois  on  the  3d  day 
of  September,  has  been  received.   It  would  be  very  agreeable  to  me 
to  thus  meet  my  old  friends  at  my  own  home,  but  I  cannot  just 
now  be  absent  from  here  so  long  as  a  visit  there  would  require. 

The  meeting  is  to  be  of  all  those  who  maintain  unconditional  10 
devotion  to  the  Union ;  and  I  am  sure  my  old  political  friends 
will  thank  me  for  tendering,  as  I  do,  the  nation's  gratitude  to 
those  and  other  noble  men  whom  no  partisan  malice  or  partisan 
hope  can  make  false  to  the  nation's  life. 

There  are  those  who  are  dissatisfied  with  me.  To  such  I  15 
would  say :  You  desire  peace,  and  you  blame  me  that  we  do 
not  have  it.  But  how  can  we  attain  it  ?  There  are  but  three 
conceivable  ways :  First,  to  suppress  the  rebellion  by  force  of 
arms.  This  I  am  trying  to  do.  Are  you  for  it  ?  If  you  are,  so  far 
we  are  agreed.  If  you  are  not  for  it,  a  second  way  is  to  give  up  20 
the  Union.  I  am  against  this.  Are  you  for  it  ?  If  you  are,  you 
should  say  so  plainly.  If  you  are  not  for  force,  nor  yet  for  dis- 
solution, there  only  remains  some  imaginable  compromise.  I  do 
not  believe  any  compromise  embracing  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union  is  now  possible.   All  I  learn  leads  to  a  directly  opposite  25 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

belief.  The  strength  of  the  rebellion  is  its  military,  its  army. 
That  army  dominates  all  the  country  and  all  the  people  within 
its  range.  Any  offer  of  terms  made  by  any  man  or  men  within 
that  range,  in  opposition  to  that  army,  is  simply  nothing  for  the 
5  present,  because  such  man  or  men  have  no  power  whatever  to 
enforce  their  side  of  a  compromise  if  one  were  made  with  them. 
To  illustrate :  Suppose  refugees  from  the  South  and  peace 
men  of  the  North  get  together  in  convention,  and  frame  and  pro- 
claim a  compromise  embracing  a  restoration  of  the  Union.    In 

io  what  way  can  that  compromise  be  used  to  keep  Lee's  army  out 
of  Pennsylvania  ?  Meade's  army  can  keep  Lee's  army  out  of 
Pennsylvania,  and,  I  think,  can  ultimately  drive  it  out  of  exist- 
ence. But  no  paper  compromise  to  which  the  controllers  of 
Lee's  army  are  not  agreed  can  at  all  affect  that  army.    In  an 

1 5  effort  at  such  compromise  we  should  waste  time  which  the  enemy 
would  improve  to  our  disadvantage ;  and  that  would  be  all.  A 
compromise,  to  be  effective,  must  be  made  either  with  those 
who  control  the  rebel  army,  or  with  the  people  first  liberated 
from  the  domination  of  that  army  by  the  success  of  our  own 

20  army.  Now,  allow  me  to  assure  you  that  no  word  or  intimation 
from  that  rebel  army,  or  from  any  of  the  men  controlling  it,  in 
relation  to  any  peace  compromise,  has  ever  come  to  my  knowl- 
edge or  belief.  All  charges  and  insinuations  to  the  contrary  are 
deceptive  and  groundless.    And  I  promise  you  that  if  any  such 

25  proposition  shall  hereafter  come,  it  shall  not  be  rejected  and  kept 

a  secret  from  you.    I  freely  acknowledge  myself  the  servant  of 

the  people,  according  to  the  bond  of  service  —  the  United  States 

Constitution  —  and  that,  as  such,  I  am  responsible  to  them. 

But  to  be  plain.   You  are  dissatisfied  with  me  about  the  negro. 

30  Quite  likely  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  between  you  and 
myself  upon  that  subject.  I  certainly  wish  that  all  men  could  be 
free,  while  I  suppose  you  do  not.  Yet,  I  have  neither  adopted 
nor  proposed  any  measure  which  is  not  consistent  with  even  your 
view,  provided  you  are  for  the  Union.    I  suggested  compensated 


THE  WAR  AND  EMANCIPATION  99 

emancipation,  to  which  you  replied  you  wished  not  to  be  taxed 
to  buy  negroes.  But  I  had  not  asked  you  to  be  taxed  to  buy 
negroes,  except  in  such  way  as  to  save  you  from  greater  taxation 
to  save  the  Union  exclusively  by  other  means. 

You  dislike   the   Emancipation   Proclamation,   and   perhaps  5 
would  have  it  retracted.   You  say  it  is  unconstitutional.   I  think 
differently.    I  think  the  Constitution  invests  its  commander  in 
chief  with  the  law  of  war  in  time  of  war.    The  most  that  can  be 
said  —  if  so  much  —  is  that  slaves  arc  property.    Is  there  —  has 
there  ever  been  —  any  question  that  by  the  law  of  war,  property,  ia 
both  of  enemies  and  friends,  may  be  taken  when  needed  ?    And 
is  it  not  needed  whenever  taking  it  helps  us,  or  hurts  the  enemy  ? 
Armies,  the  world  over,  destroy  enemies'  property  when  they 
cannot  use  it ;  and  even  destroy  their  own  to  keep  it  from  the 
enemy.    Civilized  belligerents  do  all  in  their  power  to  help  them-  15 
selves  or  hurt  the  enemy,   except  a  few  things   regarded  as 
barbarous  or  cruel.    Among  the  exceptions  are  the  massacre 
of  vanquished  foes  and  noncombatants,  male  and  female. 

But  the  proclamation,  as  law,  either  is  valid  or  is  not  valid. 
If  it  is  not  valid,  it  needs  no  retraction.  If  it  is  valid,  it  cannot  20 
be  retracted  any  more  than  the  dead  can  be  brought  to  life. 
Some  of  you  profess  to  think  its  retraction  would  operate  favor- 
ably for  the  Union.  Why  better  after  the  retraction  than  before 
the  issue  ?  There  was  more  than  a  year  and  a  half  of  trial  to 
suppress  the  rebellion  before  the  proclamation  issued ;  the  last  25 
one  hundred  days  of  which  passed  under  an  explicit  notice  that 
it  was  coming,  unless  averted  by  those  in  revolt  returning  to 
their  allegiance.  The  war  has  certainly  progressed  as  favorably 
for  us  since  the  issue  of  the  proclamation  as  before.  I  know,  as 
fully  as  one  can  know  the  opinions  of  others,  that  some  of  the  30 
commanders  of  our  armies  in  the  field,  who  have  given  us  our 
most  important  successes,  believe  the  emancipation  policy  and 
the  use  of  the  colored  troops  constitute  the  heaviest  blow  yet 
dealt  to  the  rebellion,  and  that  at  least  one  of  these  important 


100  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

successes  could  not  have  been  achieved  when  it  was  but  for 
the  aid  of  black  soldiers.  Among  the  commanders  holding  these 
views  are  some  who  have  never  had  any  affinity  with  what  is 
called  abolitionism,  or  with  Republican  party  politics,  but  who 
5  hold  them  purely  as  military  opinions.  I  submit  these  opinions 
as  being  entitled  to  some  weight  against  the  objections  often 
urged  that  emancipation  and  arming  the  blacks  are  unwise  as 
military  measures,  and  were  not  adopted  as  such  in  good  faith. 
You  say  you  will  not  fight  to  free  negroes.    Some  of  them 

10  seem  willing  to  fight  for  you  ;  but  no  matter.  Fight  you,  then, 
exclusively,  to  save  the  Lmion.  I  issued  the  proclamation  on 
purpose  to  aid  you  in  saving  the  LTnion.  Whenever  you  shall 
have  conquered  all  resistance  to  the  Union,  if  I  shall  urge  you 
to  continue  fighting,  it  will  be  an  apt  time  then  for  you  to 

15  declare  you  will  not  fight  to  free  negroes. 

I  thought  that  in  your  struggle  for  the  Union,  to  whatever  ex- 
tent the  negroes  should  cease  helping  the  enemy,  to  that  extent 
it  weakened  .the  enemy  in  his  resistance  to  you.  Do  you  think 
differently  ?    I  thought  that  whatever  negroes  can  be  got  to  do  as 

20  soldiers,  leaves  just  so  much  less  for  white  soliders  to  do  in  saving 
the  Union.  Does  it  appear  otherwise  to  you  ?  But  negroes,  like 
other  people,  act  upon  motives.  Why  should  they  do  anything 
for  us  if  we  will  do  nothing  for  them  ?  If  they  stake  their  lives 
for  us  they  must  be  prompted  by  the  strongest  motive,  even  the 

25  promise  of  freedom.  And  the  promise,  being  made,  must  be  kept. 

The  signs  look  better.    The  Father  of  Waters  again  goes 

unvexed  to  the  sea.    Thanks  to  the  great  Northwest  for  it. 

Nor  yet  wholly  to  them.     Three  hundred  miles  up  they  met 

New  England,  Empire,  Keystone,  and  Jersey,  hewing  their  way 

30  right  and  left.  The  sunny  South,  too,  in  more  colors  than  one, 
also  lent  a  hand.  On  the  spot,  their  part  of  the  history  was 
jotted  down  in  black  and  white.  The  job  was  a  great  national 
one,  and  let  none  be  banned  who  bore  an  honorable  part  in  it. 
And  while  those  who  have  cleared  the  great  river  may  well  be 


PROCLAMATION  FOR  THANKSGIVING  ioi 

proud,  even  that  is  not  all.  It  is  hard  to  say  that  anything  has 
been  more  bravely  and  well  done  than  at  Antietam,  Murfrees- 
boro,  Gettysburg,  and  on  many  fields  of  lesser  note.  Nor 
must  Uncle  Sam's  webfeet  be  forgotten.  At  all  the  watery 
margins  they  have  been  present.  Not  only  on  the  deep  sea,  5 
the  broad  bay,  and  the  rapid  river,  but  also  up  the  narrow, 
muddy  bayou,  and  wherever  the  ground  was  a  little  damp, 
they  have  been  and  made  their  tracks.  Thanks  to  all :  for  the 
great  republic  —  for  the  principle  it  lives  by  and  keeps  alive  — 
for  man's  vast  future  —  thanks  to  all.  IO 

Peace  does  not  appear  so  distant  as  it  did.  I  hope  it  will 
come  soon,  and  come  to  stay ;  and  so  come  as  to  be  worth 
the  keeping  in  all  future  time.  It  will  then  have  been  proved 
that  among  free  men  there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  from 
the  ballot  to  the  bullet,  and  that  they  who  take  such  appeal  are  T5 
sure  to  lose  their  case  and  pay  the  cost.  And  then  there  will  be 
some  black  men  who  can  remember  that  with  silent  tongue, 
and  clinched  teeth,  and  steady  eye,  and  well-poised  bayonet, 
they  have  helped  mankind  on  to  this  great  consummation,  while 
I  fear  there  will  be  some  white  ones  unable  to  forget  that  with  20 
malignant  heart  and  deceitful  speech  they  strove  to  hinder  it. 

Still,  let  us  not  be  oversanguine  of  a  speedy  final  triumph. 

Let  us  be  quite   sober.     Let   us   diligently   apply  the  means, 

never  doubting  that  a  just  God,  in  his  own  good  time,  will  give 

us  the  rightful  result.  "° 

Yours  very  truly 

A.  Lincoln 

PROCLAMATION  FOR  THANKSGIVING 

(October  3,  1863) 

The  year  that  is  drawing  toward  its  close  has  been  filled  with 
the  blessings  of  fruitful  fields  and  healthful  skies.  To  these 
bounties,  which  are  so  constantly  enjoyed  that  we  are  prone  to 
forget  the  source  from  which  they  come,  others  have  been  added, 


102  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

which  are  of  so  extraordinary  a  nature  that  they  cannot  fail  to 
penetrate  and  soften  the  heart  which  is  habitually  insensible  to 
the  ever-watchful  providence  of  Almighty  God. 

In  the  midst  of  a  civil  war  of  unequaled  magnitude  and  sever- 
5  ity,  which  has  sometimes  seemed  to  foreign  states  to  invite  and 
provoke  their  aggressions,  peace  has  been  preserved  with  all 
nations,  order  has  been  maintained,  the  laws  have  been  respected 
and  obeyed,  and  harmony  has  prevailed  everywhere,  except  in  the 
theater  of  military  conflict ;  while  that  theater  has  been  greatly 

10  contracted  by  the  advancing  armies  and  navies  of  the  Union. 
Needful  diversions  of  wealth  and  of  strength  from  the  fields 
of  peaceful  industry  to  the  national  defense  have  not  arrested 
the  plow,  the  shuttle,  or  the  ship ;  the  ax  has  enlarged  the  bor- 
ders of  our  settlements,  and  the  mines,  as  well  of  iron  and  coal 

15  as  of  the  precious  metals,  have  yielded  even  more  abundantly 
than  heretofore.  Population  has  steadily  increased,  notwith- 
standing the  waste  that  has  been  made  in  the  camp,  the  siege, 
and  the  battlefield,  and  the  country,  rejoicing  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  augmented  strength  and  vigor,  is  permitted. to  expect 

20  continuance  of  years  with  large  increase  of  freedom. 

No  human  counsel  hath  devised,  nor  hath  any  mortal  hand 
worked  out  these  great  things.  They  are  the  gracious  gifts  of 
the  most  high  God,  who,  while  dealing  with, .us  in  anger  for  our 
sins,  hath  nevertheless  remembered  mercy. 

25       It  has  seemed  to  me  fit  and  proper  that  they  should  be  sol- 
emnly, reverently,  and  gratefully  acknowledged  as  with  one  heart . 
and  one  voice  by  the  whole  American  people.    I  do,  therefore, 
invite  my  fellow  citizens  in  every  part  of  the  United  States,  and 
also  those  who  are  at  sea  and  those  who  are  sojourning  in  foreign 

30  lands,  to  set  apart  and  observe  the  last  Thursday  of  November 
next  as  a  day  of  Thanksgiving  and  praise  to  our  beneficent  Father 
who  dwelleth  in  the  heavens.  And  I  recommend  to  them  that, 
while  offering  up  the  ascriptions  justly  due  to  him  for  such  singular 
deliverances  and  blessings,  they  do  also,  with  humble  penitence 


THE  GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS  103 

for  our  national  perverseness  and  disobedience,  commend  to  his 
tender  care  all  those  who  have  become  widows,  orphans,  mourn- 
ers, or  sufferers  in  the  lamentable  civil  strife  in  which  we  are 
unavoidably  engaged,  and  fervently  implore  the  interposition  of 
the  almighty  hand  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  nation,  and  to  re-  5 
store  it,  as  soon  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  divine  purposes,  to 
the  full  enjoyment  of  peace,  harmony,  tranquility,  and  union. 

In  testimony,  etc. 

A.  Lincoln 

By  the  President : 

William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State 

THE  GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS 

(Delivered  at  the  dedication  of  the  National  Cemetery, 
November  19,  1863) 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth  on 
this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated 
to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal.  10 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether 
that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can 
long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battlefield  of  that  war. 
We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final  resting 
place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that  that  nation  might  15 
live.    It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  —  we  cannot  con- 
secrate—  wre  cannot  hallow  —  this  ground.  The  brave  men, 
living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far 
above  our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  20 
note  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  for- 
get what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather,  to  be 
dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought 

1 

here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.    It  is  rather  for  us  to  be 
here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us  —  that  25 


104  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to  that 
cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  devotion  ; 
that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died 
in  vain ;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of 
5  freedom ;  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

AMNESTY  FOR  THOSE  IN  REBELLION 

(Extract  from  annual  message,  December  8,  1863) 

. .  .  When  Congress  assembled  a  year  ago  the  war  had  already 
lasted  nearly  twenty  months,  and  there  had  been  many  conflicts 
on  both  land  and  sea  with  varying  results.    The  rebellion  had 

10  been  pressed  back  into  reduced  limits;  yet  the  tone  of  public 
feeling  and  opinion,  at  home  and  abroad,  was  not  satisfactory. 
With  other  signs,  the  popular  elections,  then  just  past,  indicated 
uneasiness  among  ourselves,  while,  amid  much  that  was  cold 
and  menacing,  the  kindest  words  coming  from  Europe  were 

15  uttered  in  accents  of  pity  that  we  were  too  blind  to  surrender 
a  hopeless  cause.  Our  commerce  was  suffering  greatly  by  a  few 
armed  vessels  built  upon,  and  furnished  from,  foreign  shores, 
and  we  were  threatened  with  such  additions  from  the  same  quar- 
ter as  would  sweep  our  trade  from  the  sea  and  raise  our  blockade. 

20  We  had  failed  to  elicit  from  European  governments  anything 
hopeful  upon  this  subject.  The  preliminary  emancipation  procla- 
mation, issued  in  September,  was  running  its  assigned  period  to 
the  beginning  of  the  new  year.  A  month  later  the  final  procla- 
mation came,  including  the  announcement  that  colored  men  of 

25  suitable  condition,  would  be  received  into  the  war  service. 

The  policy  of  emancipation,  and  of  employing  black  soldiers, 
gave  to  the  future  a  new  aspect,  about  which  hope,  and  fear, 
and  doubt  contended  in  uncertain  conflict.  According  to  our 
political  system,  as  a  matter  of  civil  administration,  the  general 

30  government  had  no  lawful  power  to  effect  emancipation  in  any 


AMNESTY  FOR  THOSE  IN  REBELLION  105 

state,  and  for  a  long  time  it  had  been  hoped  that  the  rebellion 
could  be  suppressed  without  resorting  to  it  as  a  military  measure. 
It  was  all  the  while  deemed  possible  that  the  necessity  for  it 
might  come,  and  that  if  it  should,  the  crisis  of  the  contest  would 
then  be  presented.  It  came,  and,  as  was  anticipated,  it  was  fol-  5 
lowed  by  dark  and  doubtful  days.  Eleven  months  having  now 
passed,  we  are  permitted  to  take  another  review.  The  rebel 
borders  are  pressed  still  further  back,  and,  by  the  complete 
opening  of  the  Mississippi,  the  country  dominated  by  the  re- 
bellion is  divided  into  distinct  parts,  with  no  practical  commu-  10 
nication  between  them.  Tennessee  and  Arkansas  have  been 
substantially  cleared  of  insurgent  control,  and  influential  citizens 
in  each,  owners  of  slaves  and  advocates  of  slavery  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  rebellion,  now  declare  openly  for  emancipation  in 
their  respective  states.  Of  those  states  not  included  in  the  15 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  Maryland  and  Missouri,  neither  of 
which  three  years  ago  would  tolerate  any  restraint  upon  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  new  territories,  only  dispute  now 
as  to  the  best  mode  of  removing  it  within  their  own  limits. 

Of  those  who  were  slaves  at  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion,  20 
full  one  hundred  thousand  are  now  in  the  United  States  military 
service,  about  one  half  of  which  number  actually  bear  arms  in 
the  ranks ;  thus  giving  the  double  advantage  of  taking  so  much 
labor  from  the  insurgent  cause,  and  supplying  the  places  which 
otherwise  must  be  filled  with  so  many  white  men.    So  far  as  25 
tested,  it  is  difficult  to  say  they  are  not  as  good  soldiers  as  any. 
No  servile  insurrection,  or  tendency  to  violence  or  cruelty,  has 
marked  the  measures  of  emancipation  and  arming  the  blacks. 
These  measures  have  been  much  discussed  in  foreign  countries, 
and  contemporary  with  such  discussion  the  tone  of  public  senti-  30 
ment  there  is  much  improved.    At  home  the  same  measures 
have  been  fully  discussed,  supported,  criticized,  and  denounced, 
and  the  annual  elections  following  are  highly  encouraging  to  those 
whose  official  duty  it  is  to  bear  the  country  through  this  great 


106  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

trial.    Thus  we  have    the  new  reckoning.    The    crisis   which 
threatened  to  divide  the  friends  of  the  Union  is  past. 

Looking  now  to  the  present  and  future,  and  with  reference 
to  a  resumption  of  the  national  authority  within  the  states 
5  wherein  that  authority  has  been  suspended,  I  have  thought  fit 
to  issue  a  proclamation,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  transmitted. 
On  examination  of  this  proclamation  it  will  appear,  as  is  believed, 
that  nothing  is  attempted  beyond  what  is  amply  justified  by  the 
Constitution.    True,  the  form  of  an  oath  is  given,  but  no  man 

10  is  coerced  to  take  it.  The  man  is  only  promised  a  pardon  in 
case  he  voluntarily  takes  the  oath.  The  Constitution  authorizes 
the  executive  to  grant  or  withhold  the  pardon  at  his  own  abso- 
lute discretion ;  and  this  includes  the  power  to  grant  on  terms, 
as  is  fully  established  by  judicial  and  other  authorities. 

15  It  is  also  proffered  that  if,  in  any  of  the  states  named,  a  state 
government  shall  be,  in  the  mode  prescribed,  set  up,  such 
government  shall  be  recognized  and  guaranteed  by  the  United 
States,  and  that  under  it  the  state  shall,  on  the  constitutional 
conditions,  be  protected  against  invasion  and  domestic  violence. 

20  The  constitutional  obligation  of  the  United  States  to  guarantee 
to  every  state  in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of  government, 
and  to  protect  the  state  in  the  cases  stated,  is  explicit  and  full. 
But  why  tender  the  benefits  of  this  provision  only  to  a  state 
government  set  up  in  this  particular  way  ?    This  section  of  the 

25  Constitution  contemplates  a  case  wherein  the  element  within  a 
state  favorable  to  republican  government  in  the  Union  may  be 
too  feeble  for  an  opposite  and  hostile  element  external  to,  or 
even  within,  the  state ;  and  such  are  precisely  the  cases  with 
which  we  are  now  dealing. 

30  An  attempt  to  guarantee  and  protect  a  revived  state  govern- 
ment, constructed  in  whole,  or  in  preponderating  part,  from  the 
very  element  against  whose  hostility  and  violence  it  is  to  be 
protected,  is  simply  absurd.  There  must  be  a  test  by  which  to 
separate  the  opposing  elements,  so  as  to  build  only  from  the 


AMNESTY  FOR  THOSE  IN  REBELLION  107 

sound ;  and  that  test  is  a  sufficiently  liberal  one  which  accepts 
as  sound  whoever  will  make  a  sworn  recantation  of  his  former 
unsoundness. 

But  if  it  be  proper  to  require,  as  a  test  of  admission  to  the 
political  body,  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Constitution  of  the  5 
United  States,  and  to  the  Union  under  it,  why  also  to  the  laws 
and  proclamations  in  regard  to  slavery  ?    Those  laws  and  proc- 
lamations were  enacted  and  put  forth  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 
in  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion.    To  give  them  their  fullest 
effect,  there  had  to  be  a  pledge  for  their  maintenance.    In  my  10 
judgment  they  have  aided,  and  will  further  aid,  the  cause  for 
which  they  were  intended.    To  now  abandon  them  would  be  not 
only  to  relinquish  a  lever  of  power,  but  would  also  be  a  cruel 
and  an  astounding  breach  of  faith.    I  may  add,  at  this  point,  that 
while  I  remain  in  my  present  position  I  shall  not  attempt  to  15 
retract  or  modify  the  Emancipation  Proclamation ;  nor  shall  I 
return  to  slavery  any  person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that 
proclamation,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress.    For  these  and 
other  reasons  it  is  thought  best  that  support  of  these  measures 
shall  be  included  in  the  oath ;  and  it  is  believed  the  executive  20 
may  lawfully  claim  it  in  return  for  pardon  and  restoration  of 
forfeited  rights,  which  he  has  clear  constitutional  power  to  with- 
hold altogether,  or  grant  upon  the  terms  which  he  shall  deem 
wisest  for  the  public  interest.    It  should  be  observed,  also,  that 
this  part  of  the  oath  is  subject  to  the  modifying  and  abrogating  25 
power  of  legislation  and  supreme  judicial  decision. 

The  proposed  acquiescence  of  the  national  executive  in  any 
reasonable  temporary  state  arrangement  for  the  freed  people  is 
made  with  the  view  of  possibly  modifying  the  confusion  and 
destitution  which  must  at  best  attend  all  classes  by  a  total  revo-  30 
lution  of  labor  throughout  whole  states.  It  is  hoped  that  the 
already  deeply  afflicted  people  in  those  states  may  be  somewhat 
more  ready  to  give  up  the  cause  of  their  affliction,  if,  to  this  ex- 
tent, this  vital  matter  be  left  to  themselves ;  while  no  power  of 


108  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  national  executive  to  prevent  an  abuse  is  abridged  by  the 
proposition. 

The  suggestion  in  the  proclamation  as  to  maintaining  the 
political  framework  of  the  states  on  what  is  called  reconstruc- 
5  tion  is  made  in  the  hope  that  it  may  do  good  without  danger  of 
harm.    It  will  save  labor,  and  avoid  great  confusion. 

But  why  any  proclamation  now  upon  this  subject  ?  This 
question  is  beset  with  the  conflicting  views  that  the  step  might 
be  delayed  too  long  or  be  taken  too  soon.    In  some  states  the 

10  elements  for  resumption  seem  ready  for  action,  but  remain  in- 
active apparently  for  want  of  a  rallying  point  —  a  plan  of  action. 
Why  shall  A  adopt  the  plan  of  B,  rather  than  B  that  of  A  ? 
And  if  A  and  B  should  agree,  how  can  they  know  but  that  the 
general  government  here  will  reject  their  plan  ?    By  the  procla- 

15  mation  a  plan  is  presented  which  may  be  accepted  by  them  as 
a  rallying  point,  and  which  they  are  assured  in  advance  will  not 
be  rejected  here.  This  may  bring  them  to  act  sooner  than  they 
otherwise  would. 

The  objection  to  a  premature  presentation  of  a  plan  by  the 

20  national  executive  consists  in  the  danger  of  committals  on  points 
which  could  be  more  safely  left  to  further  developments.  Care 
has  been  taken  to  so  shape  the  document  as  to  avoid  embar- 
rassments from  this  source.  Saying  that,  on  certain  terms,  cer- 
tain classes  will  be  pardoned,  with  rights  restored,  it  is  not  said 

25  that  other  classes,  or  other  terms,  will  never  be  included.  Saying 
that  reconstruction  will  be  accepted  if  presented  in  a  specified 
way,  it  is  not  said  it  will  never  be  accepted  in  any  other  way. 

The  movements,  by  state  action,  for  emancipation  in  several 
of  the  states  not  included  in  the  Emancipation  Proclamation, 

30  are  matters  of  profound  gratulation.  And  while  I  do  not  repeat 
in  detail  what  I  have  heretofore  so  earnestly  urged  upon  this 
subject,  my  general  views  and  feelings  remain  unchanged ;  and 
I  trust  that  Congress  will  omit  no  fair  opportunity  of  aiding  these 
important  steps  to  a  great  consummation. 


NEGROES  AND  THE  ELECTIVE  FRANCHISE     109 

In  the  midst  of  other  cares,  however  important,  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  war  power  is  still  our  main  reli- 
ance. To  that  power  alone  can  we  look,  yet  for  a  time,  to  give 
confidence  to  the  people  in  the  contested  regions  that  the  in- 
surgent power  will  not  again  overrun  them.  Until  that  conn-  5 
dence  shall  be  established,  little  can  be  done  anywhere  for  what 
is  called  reconstruction.  Hence  our  chiefest  care  must  still  be 
directed  to  the  army  and  navy,  who  have  thus  far  borne  their 
harder  part  so  nobly  and  well.  And  it  may  be  esteemed  fortu- 
nate that  in  giving  the  greatest  efficiency  to  these  indispensable  ic 
arms,  we  do  also  honorably  recognize  the  gallant  men,  from 
commander  to  sentinel,  who  compose  them,  and  to  whom,  more 
than  to  others,  the  world  must  stand  indebted  for  the  home  of 
freedom  disenthralled,  regenerated,  enlarged,  and  perpetuated. 

Abraham  Lincoln 

SUGGESTING  THAT  INTELLIGENT  NEGROES   BE 
ADMITTED  TO   THE  ELECTIVE  FRANCHISE 

(Private) 

Executive  Mansion 

Hon.  Michael  Hahn  Washington,  March  13,  1864 

My  dear  Sir : 

I  congratulate  you  on  having  fixed  your  name  in  history  as  15 

the  first  free-state  governor  of  Louisiana.    Now  you  are  about 

to  have  a  convention,  which,  among  other  things,  will  probably 

define  the  elective  franchise.    I  barely  suggest  for  your  private 

consideration,  whether  some  of  the  colored  people  may  not  be 

let  in  —  as,  for  instance,  the  very  intelligent,  and  especially  those  20 

who  have  fought  gallantly  in  our  ranks.    They  would  probably 

help,  in  some  trying  time  to  come,  to  keep  the  jewel  of  liberty 

within  the  family  of  freedom.    But  this  is  only  a  suggestion,  not 

to  the  public,  but  to  you  alone. 

Yours  truly 

A.  Lincoln 


HO  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

REVIEW   OF   SLAVERY   POLICY 

Executive  Mansion 
A.  G.  Hodges,  Esq.  Washington,  April  4,  1864 

Frankfort,  Kentucky 

My  dear  Sir : 

You  ask  me  to  put  in  writing  the  substance  of  what  I  ver- 
bally said  the  other  day  in  your  presence,  to  Governor  Bramlette 
and  Senator  Dixon.    It  was  about  as  follows : 

"  I  am  naturally  antislavery.    If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing 

5  is  wrong.  I  cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  so  think  and  feel, 
and  yet  I  have  never  understood  that  the  presidency  conferred 
upon  me  an  unrestricted  right  to  act  officially  upon  this  judg- 
ment and  feeling.  It  was  in  the  oath  I  took  that  I  would,  to  the 
best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution 

10  of  the  United  States.  I  could  not  take  the  office  without  taking 
the  oath.  Nor  was  it  my  view  that  I  might  take  an  oath  to  get 
power,  and  break  the  oath  in  using  the  power.  I  understood, 
too,  that  in  ordinary  civil  administration  this  oath  even  forbade 
me  to  practically  indulge  my  primary  abstract  judgment  on  the 

15  moral  question  of  slavery.  I  had  publicly  declared  this  many 
times,  and  in  many  ways.  And  I  aver  that,  to  this  day,  I  have 
done  no  official  act  in  mere  deference  to  my  abstract  judgment 
and  feeling  on  slavery.  I  did  understand,  however,  that  my  oath 
to  preserve  the  Constitution  to  the  best  of  my  ability  imposed 

20  upon  me  the  duty  of  preserving,  by  every  indispensable  means, 
that  government  —  that  nation,  of  which  that  Constitution  was 
the  organic  law.  Was  it  possible  to  lose  the  nation  and  yet  pre- 
serve the  Constitution  ?  By  general  law,  life  and  limb  must  be 
protected,  yet  often  a  limb  must  be  amputated  to  save  a  life ; 

25  but  a  life  is  never  wisely  given  to  save  a  limb.  I  felt  that  meas- 
ures otherwise  unconstitutional  might  become  lawful  by  becom- 
ing indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  the  Constitution  through 
the  preservation  of  the  nation.    Right  or  wrong,  I  assumed  this 


REVIEW  OF  SLAVERY  POLICY  m 

ground,  and  now  avow  it.  I  could  not  feel  that,  to  the  best  of 
my  ability,  I  had  even  tried  to  preserve  the  Constitution,  if,  to 
save  slavery  or  any  minor  matter,  I  should  permit  the  wreck  of 
government,  country,  and  Constitution  all  together.  When,  early 
in  the  war,  General  Fremont  attempted  military  emancipation,  5 
I  forbade  it,  because  I  did  not  then  think  it  an  indispensable 
necessity.  When,  a  little  later,  General  Cameron,  then  Secre- 
tary of  War,  suggested  the  arming  of  the  blacks,  I  objected 
because  I  did  not  yet  think  it  an  indispensable  necessity.  When, 
still  later,  General  Hunter  attempted  military  emancipation,  I  10 
again  forbade  it,  because  I  did  not  yet  think  the  indispensable 
necessity  had  come.  When  in  March  and  May  and  July,  1862, 
I  made  earnest  and  successive  appeals  to  the  border  states  to 
favor  compensated  emancipation,  I  believed  the  indispensable 
'necessity  for  military  emancipation  and  arming  the  blacks  would  15 
come  unless  averted  by  that  measure.  They  declined  the  propo- 
sition, and  I  was,  in  my  best  judgment,  driven  to  the  alternative 
of  either  surrendering  the  Union,  and  with  it  the  Constitution, 
or  of  laying  strong  hand  upon  the  colored  element.  I  chose  the 
latter.  In  choosing  it,  I  hoped  for  greater  gain  than  loss ;  but  20 
of  this,  I  was  not  entirely  confident.  More  than  a  year  of  trial 
now  shows  no  loss  by  it  in  our  foreign  relations,  none  in  our 
home  popular  sentiment,  none  in  our  white  military  force  —  no 
loss  by  it  anyhow  or  anywhere.  On  the  contrary  it  shows  a  gain 
of  quite  a  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  soldiers,  seamen,  and  25 
laborers.  These  are  palpable  facts,  about  which,  as  facts,  there 
can  be  no  caviling.  We  have  the  men ;  and  we  could  not  have 
had  them  without  the  measure. 

"And  now  let  any  Union  man  who  complains  of  the  measure 
test  himself  by  writing  down  in  one  line  that  he  is  for  subduing  30 
the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms  ;  and  in  the  next,  that  he  is  for 
taking  these  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  men  from  the  Union 
side,  and  placing  them  where  they  would  be  but  for  the  meas- 
ure he  condemns.  If  he  cannot  face  his  case  so  stated,  it  is  only 
because  he  cannot  face  the  truth." 


112  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

I  add  a  word  which  was  not  in  the  verbal  conversation.    In 

telling  this  tale  I  attempt  no  compliment  to  my  own  sagacity. 

I  claim  not  to  have  controlled  events,  but  confess  plainly  that 

events  have  controlled  me.    Now,  at  the  end  of  three  years' 

5  struggle,  the  nation's  condition  is  not  what  either  party,  or  any 

man,  devised  or  expected.    God  alone  can  claim  it.    Whither  it 

is  tending  seems  plain.   If  God  now  wills  the  removal  of  a  great 

wrong,  and  wills  also  that  we  of  the  North,  as  well  as  you  of  the 

South,  shall  pay  fairly  for  our  complicity  in  that  wrong,  impar- 

10  tial  history  will  find  therein  new  cause  to  attest  and  revere  the 

justice  and  goodness  of  God. 

Yours  truly 

A.  Lincoln 

LETTER  TO   GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT 

Executive  Mansion 
Washington,  April  30,  1864 
Lieutenant  General  Grant : 

Not  expecting  to  see  you  again  before  the  spring  campaign 
opens,  I  wish  to  express  in  this  way  my  entire  satisfaction  with 
what  you  have  done  up  to  this  time,  so  far  as  I  understand  it. 

1 5  The  particulars  of  your  plans  I  neither  know  nor  seek  to  know. 
You  are  vigilant  and  self-reliant ;  and,  pleased  with  this,  I  wish 
not  to  obtrude  any  constraints  or  restraints  upon  you.  While  I 
am  very  anxious  that  any  great  disaster  or  capture  of  our  men 
in  great  numbers  shall  be  avoided,  I  know  these  points  are  less 

20  likely  to  escape  your  attention  than  they  would  be  mine.    If 

there  is  anything  wanting  which  is  within  my  power  to  give,  do 

not  fail  to  let  me  know  it.    And  now,  with  a  brave  army  and  a 

just  cause,  may  God  sustain  you. 

Yours  very  truly 

A.  Lincoln 


\ 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  113 

LETTER  TO  MRS.   BIXBY 

(November  21,  1864) 
Dear  Madam  : 

•  I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  War  Department  a 
statement  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  Massachusetts  that  you 
are  the  mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died  gloriously  on  the 
field  of  battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any 
words  of  mine  which  should  attempt  to  beguile  you  from  the  5 
grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I  cannot  refrain  from 
tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may  be  found  in  the 
thanks  of  the  republic  they  died  to  save.  I  pray  that  our 
Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish  of  your  bereave- 
ment, and  leave  you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved  10 
and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have  laid 
so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. 

Yours  very  sincerely  and  respectfully 

Abraham  Lincoln 


/ 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE 

(December  6,  1864) 

.  .  .  The  most  reliable  indication  of  public  purpose  in  this 
country  is  derived  through  our  popular  elections.  Judging  by 
the  recent  canvass  and  its  result,  the  purpose  of  the  people  15 
within  the  loyal  states  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Union, 
was  never  more  firm  nor  more  nearly  unanimous  than  now. 
The  extraordinary  calmness  and  good  order  with  which  the 
millions  of  voters  met  and  mingled  at  the  polls  give  strong 
assurance  of  this.  Not  only  all  those  who  supported  the  Union  20 
ticket,  so  called,  but  a  great  majority  of  the  opposing  party 
also,  may  be  fairly  claimed  to  entertain,  and  to  be  actuated  by, 
the  same  purpose.  It  is  an  unanswerable  argument  to  this 
effect,  that  no  candidate  for  any  office  whatever,  high  or  low, 
has  ventured  to  seek  votes  on  the  avowal  that  he  was  for  giving  25 


114  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

up  the  Union.  There  has  been  much  impugning  of  motives, 
and  much  heated  controversy  as  to  the  proper  means  and  best 
mode  of  advancing  the  Union  cause ;  but  on  the  distinct  issue 
of  Union  or  no  LTnion  the  politicians  have  shown  their  in- 
5  stinctive  knowledge  that  there  is  no  diversity  among  the  people. 
In  affording  the  people  the  fair  opportunity  of  showing  one  to 
another  and  to  the  world  this  firmness  and  unanimity  of  pur- 
pose, the  election  has  been  of  vast  value  to  the  national  cause. 
The  election  has  exhibited  another  fact,  not  less  valuable  to 

10  be  known  —  the  fact  that  we  do  not  approach  exhaustion  in 
the  most  important  branch  of  national  resources  —  that  of 
living  men.  While  it  is  melancholy  to  reflect  that  the  war  has 
filled  so  many  graves,  and  carried  mourning  to  so  many  hearts, 
it  is  some  relief  to  know  that  compared  with  the  surviving,  the 

15  fallen  have  been  so  few.  While  corps,  and  divisions,  and 
brigades,  and  regiments  have  formed,  and  fought,  and  dwin- 
dled, and  gone  out  of  existence,  a  great  majority  of  the  men 
who  composed  them  are  still  living.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
naval  sendee.   The  election  returns  prove  this.    So  many  voters 

20  could  not  else  be  found.  The  states  regularly  holding  elec- 
tions, both  now  and  four  years  ago  —  to  wit :  California, 
Connecticut,  Delaware,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Kentucky, 
Maine,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Mis- 
souri, New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Ohio,  Oregon, 

25  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  West  Virginia,  and 
Wisconsin  —  cast  3.982,011  votes  now,  against  3,870,222  cast 
then;  showing  an  aggregate  now  of  3,982,011.  To  this  is  to 
be  added  33,762  cast  now  in  the  new  states  of  Kansas  and 
Nevada,  which  states  did  not  vote  in  i860;  thus  swelling  the 

30  aggregate  to  4,015,773,  and  the  net  increase  during  the  three 
years  and  a  half  of  war,  to  145,551.  A  table  is  appended, 
showing  particulars.  To  this  again  should  be  added  the  num- 
ber of  all  soldiers  in  the  field  from  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  California, 


EXTRACT  FROM  ANNUAL  MESSAGE  115 

who  by  the  laws  of  those  states  could  not  vote  away  from  their 
homes,  and  which  number  cannot  be  less  than  90,000.  Nor  yet 
is  this  all.  The  number  in  organized  territories  is  triple  now  what 
it  was  four  years  ago,  while  thousands,  white  and  black,  join  us 
as  the  national  arms  press  back  the  insurgent  lines.  So  much  5 
is  shown,  affirmatively  and  negatively,  by  the  election. 

It  is  not  material  to  inquire  how  the  increase  has  been  pro- 
duced, or  to  show  that  it  would  have  been  greater  but  for  the 
war,  which  is  probably  true.  The  important  fact  remains  demon- 
strated that  we  have  more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war  10 
began  ;  that  we  are  not  exhausted,  nor  in  process  of  exhaustion  ; 
that  we  are  gaining  strength,  and  may,  if  need  be,  maintain  the 
contest  indefinitely.  This  as  to  men.  Material  resources  are 
now  more  complete  and  abundant  than  ever. 

The  national  resources,  then,  are  unexhausted,  and,  as  we  15 
believe,  inexhaustible.    The  public  purpose  to  reestablish  and 
maintain  the  national  authority  is  unchanged,  and,  as  we  believe, 
unchangeable.    The  manner  of  continuing  the  effort  remains  to 
choose.    On  careful  consideration  of  all  the  evidence  accessible, 
it  seems  to  me  that  no  attempt  at  negotiation  with  the  insurgent  20 
leader  could  result  in  any  good.    He  would  accept  nothing  short 
of  severance  of  the  Union  —  precisely  what  we  will  not  and 
cannot  give.    His  declarations  to  this  effect  are  explicit  and  oft 
repeated.    He  does  not  attempt  to  deceive  us.    He  affords  us 
no  excuse  to  deceive  ourselves.    He  cannot  voluntarily  reaccept  25 
the  Union ;  we  cannot  voluntarily  yield  it. 
m    Between  him  and  us  the  issue  is  distinct,  simple,  and  inflexible. 
It  is  an  issue  which  can  only  be  tried  by  war,  and  decided  by  victory. 
If  we  yield,  we  are  beaten  ;  if  the  Southern  people  fail  him,  he  is 
beaten.    Either  way  it  would  be  the  victory  and  defeat  following  30 
war.   What  is  true,  however,  of  him  who  heads  the  insurgent  cause, 
is  not  necessarily  true  of  those  who  follow.   Although  he  cannot 
reaccept  the  Union,  they  can.    Some  of  them,  we  know,  already 
desire  peace  and  reunion.    The  number  of  such  may  increase. 


Il6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

They  can  at  any  moment  have  peace  simply  by  laying  down 
their  arms  and  submitting  to  the  national  authority  under  the 
Constitution.  After  so  much  the  government  could  not,  if  it 
would,  maintain  war  against  them.  The  loyal  people  would  not 
5  sustain  or  allow  it.  If  questions  should  remain,  we  would  adjust 
them  by  the  peaceful  means  of  legislation,  conference,  courts, 
and  votes,  operating  only  in  constitutional  and  lawful  channels. 
Some  certain,  and  other  possible,  questions  are,  and  would  be, 
beyond  the  executive  power  to  adjust ;  as,  for  instance,  the  ad- 

10  mission  of  members  into  Congress,  and  whatever  might  require 
the  appropriation  of  money.  The  executive  power  itself  would 
be  greatly  diminished  by  the  cessation  of  actual  war.  Pardons 
and  remissions  of  forfeitures,  however,  would  still  be  within 
executive  control.    In  what  spirit  and  temper  this  control  would 

15  be  exercised,  can  be  fairly  judged  of  by  the  past. 

A  year  ago  general  pardon  and  amnesty,  upon  specified  terms, 
were  offered  to  all  except  certain  designated  classes,  and  it  was 
at  the  same  time  made  known  that  the  excepted  classes  were 
still  within  contemplation  of  special  clemency.    During  the  year 

20  many  availed  themselves  of  the  general  provision,  and  many 
more  would,  only  that  the  signs  of  bad  faith  in  some  led  to  such 
precautionary  measures  as  rendered  the  practical  process  less 
easy  and  certain.  During  the  same  time,  also,  special  pardons 
have  been  granted  to  individuals  of  the  excepted  classes,  and 

25  no  voluntary  application  has  been  denied. 

Thus,  practically,  the  door  has  been  for  a  full  year  open  to 
all,  except  such  as  were  not  in  condition  to  make  free  choice  — 
that  is,  such  as  were  in  custody  or  under  constraint.  It  is  still 
so  open  to  all ;  but  the  time  may  come  —  probably  will  come  — 

30  when  public  duty  shall  demand  that  it  be  closed ;  and  that  in 
lieu  more  rigorous  measures  than  heretofore  shall  be  adopted. 
In  presenting  the  abandonment  of  armed  resistance  to  the 
national  authority  on  the  part  of  the  insurgents  as  the  only  in- 
dispensable condition  to  ending  the  war  on  the  part  of  the 


v 


SECOND   INAUGURAL  ADDRESS  117 

government,  I  retract  nothing  heretofore  said  as  to  slavery.  I 
repeat  the  declaration  made  a  year  ago,  that  "  while  I  remain 
in  my  present  position  I  shall  not  attempt  to  retract  or  modify 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery 
any  person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclamation,  or  5 
by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress." 

If  the  people  should,  by  whatever  mode  or  means,  make  it 
an  executive  duty  to  reenslave  such  persons,  another,  and  not 
I,  must  be  their  instrument  to  perform  it. 

In  stating  a  single  condition  of  peace,  I  mean  simply  to  say,  10' 
that  the  war  will  cease  on  the  part  of  the  government  whenever 
it  shall  have  ceased  on  the  part  of  those  who  began  it. 

Abraham  Lincoln 

SECOND  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

(March  4,  1865) 

Fellow  Countrymen :  At  this  second  appearing  to  take  the 
oath  of  the  presidential  office,  there  is  less  occasion  for  an  ex- 
tended address  than  there  was  at  the  first.  Then  a  statement,  15 
somewhat  in  detail,  of  a  course  to  be  pursued,  seemed  fitting 
and  proper.  Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  during  which 
public  declarations  have  been  constantly  called  forth  on  every 
point  and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which  still  absorbs  the  at- 
tention and  engrosses  the  energies  of  the  nation,  little  that  is  20 
new  could  be  presented.  The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which 
all  else  chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as  to  my- 
self;  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory  and  encouraging 
to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the  future,  no  prediction  in  regard 
to  it  is  ventured.  25 

On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago,  all 
thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending  civil  war. 
All  dreaded  it  —  all  sought  to  avert -it.  While  the  inaugural 
address  was  being  delivered  from  this  place,  devoted  altogether 


Il8  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  saving  the  Union  without  war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the 
city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war  —  seeking  to  dissolve  the 
Union,  and  divide  effects,  by  negotiation.  Both  parties  depre- 
cated war ;  but  one  of  them  would  make  war  rather  than  let  the 
5  nation  survive ;  and  the  other  would  accept  war  rather  than  let 
it  perish.    And  the  war  came. 

One  eighth  of  the  whole  population  were  colored  slaves,  not 
distributed  generally  over  the  Union,  but  localized  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  it.    These  slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful 

10  interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest  was,  somehow,  the  cause 
of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetuate,  and  extend  this  interest 
was  the  object  for  which  the  insurgents  would  rend  the  Union, 
even  by  war  ;  while  the  government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more 
than  to  restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 

15  Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude  or  the 
duration  which  it  has  already  attained.  Neither  anticipated  that 
the  cause  of  the  conflict  might  cease  with,  or  even  before,  the 
conflict  itself  should  cease.  Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph, 
and  a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding.    Both  read  the 

20  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God ;  and  each  invokes  his 
aid  against  the  other. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  any  men  should  dare  to  ask  a  just 
God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sweat  of  other 
men's  faces  ;  but  let  us  judge  not,  that  we  be  not  judged.    The 

25  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered  —  that  of  neither  has 
been  answered  fully. 

The  Almighty  has  his  own  purposes.  "  Woe  unto  the  world 
because  of  offenses !  for  it  must  needs  be  that  offenses  come ; 
but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offense  cometh."    If  we  shall 

30  suppose  that  American  slavery  is  one  of  those  offenses  which,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  must  needs  come,  but  which,  having  con- 
tinued through  his  appointed  time,  he  now  wills  to  remove,  and 
that  he  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war,  as  the 
woe  due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  discern 


THE  LAST  PUBLIC  ADDRESS  119 

therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attributes  which  the 
believers  in  a  living  God  always  ascribe  to  him?  Fondly  do 
we  hope  —  fervently  do  we  pray  —  that  this  mighty  scourge  of 
war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  5 
years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of 
blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with 
the  sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it 
must  be  said,  "  The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and 
righteous  altogether."  10 

With  malice  toward  none  ;  with  charity  for  all ;  with  firmness 
in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in ;  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds ;  to 
care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow, 
and  his  orphan  —  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  1 5 
just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves,  and  with  all  nations. 

THE  LAST  PUBLIC  ADDRESS 

(April  11,  1865) 

We  meet  this  evening  not  in  sorrow,  but  in  gladness  of  heart. 
The  evacuation  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  and  the  surrender 
of  the  principal  insurgent  army,  give  hope  of  a  righteous  and 
speedy  peace,  whose  joyous  expression  cannot  be  restrained.  20 
In  the  midst  of  this,  however,  He  from  whom  all  blessings  flow 
must  not  be  forgotten.  A  call  for  a  national  thanksgiving  is  being 
prepared,  and  will  be  duly  promulgated.  Nor  must  those  whose 
harder  part  give  us  the  cause  of  rejoicing  be  overlooked.  Their 
honors  must  not  be  parceled  out  with  others.  I  myself  was  near  25 
the  front,  and  had  the  high  pleasure  of  transmitting  much  of  the 
good  news  to  you  ;  but  no  part  of  the  honor  for  plan  or  execution 
is  mine.  To  General  Grant,  his  skillful  officers  and  brave  men, 
all  belongs.  The  gallant  navy  stood  ready,  but  was  not  in  reach 
to  take  active  part.    By  these  recent  successes  the  reinauguration  30 


120  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 

of  the  national  authority  —  reconstruction  —  which  has  had  a 
large  share  of  thought  from  the  first,  is  pressed  much  more  closely 
upon  our  attention.  It  is  fraught  with  great  difficulty.  Unlike 
a  case  of  war  between  independent  nations,  there  is  no  author- 
5  ized  organ  for  us  to  treat  with  —  no  one  man  has  authority  to 
give  up  the  rebellion  for  any  other  man.  ,  We  simply  must  begin 
with  and  mold  from  disorganized  and  discordant  elements.  Nor 
is  it  a  small  additional  embarrassment  that  we,  the  loyal  people, 
differ  among  ourselves  as  to  the  mode,  manner,  and  measure  of 

10  reconstruction.  As  a  general  rule,  I  abstain  from  reading  the 
reports  of  attacks  upon  myself,  wishing  not  to  be  provoked  by 
that  to  which  I  cannot  properly  offer  an  answer.  In  spite  of 
this  precaution,  however,  it  comes  to  my  knowledge  that  I  am 
much  censured  for  some  supposed  agency  in  setting  up  and 

15  seeking  to  sustain  the  new  state  government  of  Louisiana.  In 
this  I  have  done  just  so  much  as,  and  no  more  than,  the  public 
knows.  In  the  Annual  Message  of  December,  1863,  and  in  the 
accompanying  proclamation,  I  presented  a  plan  of  reconstruc- 
tion, as  the  phrase  goes,  which  I  promised,  if  adopted  by  any 

20  state,  should  be  acceptable  to  and  sustained  by  the  executive 
government  of  the  nation.  I  distinctly  stated  that  this  was  not 
the  only  plan  which  might  possibly  be  acceptable,  and  I  also 
distinctly  protested  that  the  executive  claimed  no  right  to  say 
when  or  wThether  members  should  be  admitted  to  seats  in  Con- 

25  gress  from  such  states.  This  plan  was  in  advance  submitted  to 
the  then  cabinet,  and  distinctly  approved  by  every  member  of  it. 
One  of  them  suggested  that  I  should  then  and  in  that  connection 
apply  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  to  the  theretofore  ex- 
cepted parts  of  Virginia  and  Louisiana ;  that  I  should  drop  the 

30  suggestion  about  apprenticeship  for  freed  people,  and  that  I 
should  omit  the  protest  against  my  own  power  in  regard  to  the 
admission  of  members  to  Congress.  But  even  he  approved 
every  part  and  parcel  of  the  plan  which  has  since  been 
employed  or  touched  by  the  action  of  Louisiana. 


THE  LAST  PUBLIC  ADDRESS  121 

The  new  constitution  of  Louisiana,  declaring  emancipation  for 
the  whole  state,  practically  applies  the  proclamation  to  the  part 
previously  excepted.  It  does  not  adopt  apprenticeship  for  freed 
people,  and  it  is  silent,  as  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise,  about 
the  admission  of  members  to  Congress.  So  that,  as  it  applied  to  5 
Louisiana,  every  member  of  the  cabinet  fully  approved  the  plan. 
The  message  went  to  Congress,  and  I  received  many  com- 
mendations of  the  plan,  written  and  verbal,  and  not  a  single 
objection  to  it  from  any  professed  emancipationist  came  to  my 
knowledge  until  after  the  news  reached  Washington  that  the  10 
people  of  Louisiana  had  begun  to  move  in  accordance  with  it. 
From  about  July,  1862,  I  had  corresponded  with  different  per- 
sons supposed  to  be  interested  [in]  seeking  a  reconstruction  of 
a  state  government  for  Louisiana.  When  the  message  of  1863, 
with  the  plan  before  mentioned,  reached  New  Orleans,  General  15 
Banks  wrote  me  that  he  was  confident  that  the  people,  with  his 
military  cooperation,  would  reconstruct  substantially  on  that  plan. 
I  wrote  to  him  and  some  of  them  to  try  it.  They  tried  it,  and 
the  result  is  known.  Such  has  been  my  only  agency  in  getting 
up  the  Louisiana  government.  As  to  sustaining  it,  my  promise  is  20 
out,  as  before  stated.  But  as  bad  promises  are  better  broken  than 
kept,  I  shall  treat  this  as  a  bad  promise,  and  break  it  whenever 
I  shall  be  convinced  that  keeping  it  is  adverse  to  the  public  in- 
terest ;  but  I  have  not  yet  been  so  convinced.  I  have  been 
shown  a  letter  on  this  subject,  supposed  to  be  an  able  one,  in  25 
which  the  writer  expresses  regret  that  my  mind  has  not  seemed 
to  be  definitely  fixed  on  the  question  whether  the  seceded 
states,  so  called,  are  in  the  Union  or  out  of  it.  It  would  perhaps 
add  astonishment  to  his  regret  were  he  to  learn  that  since  I  have 
found  professed  Union  men  endeavoring  to  make  that  ques-  30 
tion,  I  have  purposely  forborne  any  public  expression  upon  it. 
As  appears  to  me,  that  question  has  not  been,  nor  yet  is,  a 
practically  material  one,  and  that  any  discussion  of  it,  while  it  thus 
remains  practically  immaterial,  could  have  no  effect  other  than 


122  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  mischievous  one  of  dividing  our  friends.  As  yet,  whatever  it 
may  hereafter  become,  that  question  is  bad  as  the  basis  of  a  con- 
troversy, and  good  for  nothing  at  all  —  a  merely  pernicious 
abstraction.  We  all  agree  that  the  seceded  states,  so  called,  are 
5  out  of  their  proper  practical  relation  with  the  L^nion,  and  that  the 
sole  object  of  the  government,  civil  and  military,  in  regard  to  those 
states  is  to  again  get  them  into  that  proper  practical  relation.  I 
believe  that  it  is -not  only  possible,  but  in  fact  easier,  to  do  this 
without  deciding  or  even  considering  whether  these  states  have 

10  ever  been  out  of  the  Union,  than  with  it.  Finding  themselves 
safely  at  home,  it  would  be  utterly  immaterial  whether  they  had 
ever  been  abroad.  Let  us  all  join  in  doing  the  acts  necessary  to 
restoring  the  proper  practical  relations  between  these  states  and 
the  Union,   and  each  forever  after  innocently  indulge  his  own 

15  opinion  whether  in  doing  the  acts  he  brought  the  states  from 
without  into  the  Union,  or  only  gave  them  proper  assistance, 
they  never  having  been  out  of  it.  The  amount  of  constituency, 
so  to  speak,  on  which  the  new  Louisiana  government  rests, 
would  be  more   satisfactory  to   all   if  it  contained  50,000,  or 

20  30,000,  or  even  20,000,  instead  of  only  about  12,000,  as  it 
does.  It  is  also  unsatisfactory  to  some  that  the  elective  fran- 
chise is  not  given  to  the  colored  man.  I  would  myself  prefer 
that  it  were  now  conferred  on  the  very  intelligent,  and  on  those 
who   serve   our  cause   as   soldiers.    Still,  the  question    is  not 

25  whether  the  Louisiana  government,  as  it  stands,  is  quite  all  that 
is  desirable.  The  question  is,  Will  it  be  wiser  to  take  it  as  it  is 
and  help  to  improve  it,  or  to  reject  and  disperse  it  ?  Can  Loui- 
siana be  brought  into  proper  practical  relation  with  the  L<nion 
sooner   by   sustaining  or  by   discarding   her    new    state   gov- 

30  ernment  ?  Some  12,000  voters  in  the  heretofore  slave  state  of 
Louisiana  have  sworn  allegiance  to  the  Union,  assumed  to  be 
the  rightful  political  power  of  the  state,  held  elections,  organized 
a  state  government,  adopted  a  free-state  constitution,  giving 
the  benefit  of  public  schools  equally  to  black  and  white,  and 


THE  LAST  PUBLIC  ADDRESS  1 23 

empowering  the  legislature  to  confer  the  elective  franchise  upon 
the  colored  man.  Their  legislature  has  already  voted  to  ratify 
the  constitutional  amendment  recently  passed  by  Congress, 
abolishing  slavery  throughout  the  nation.  These  1 2,000  persons 
are  thus  fully  committed  to  the  Union  and  to  perpetual  free-  5 
dom  in  the  state  —  committed  to  the  very  things,  and  nearly 
all  the  things,  the  nation  wants  —  and  they  ask  the  nation's  recog- 
nition and  its  assistance  to  make  good  their  committal. 

Now,  if  we  reject  and  spurn  them,  we  do  our  utmost  to  dis- 
organize and  disperse  them.    We,  in  effect,  say  to  the  white  man  :  10 
You  are  worthless,  or  worse ;  we  will  neither  help  you  nor  be 
helped  by  you.    To  the  blacks  we  say  :  This  cup  of  liberty  which 
these,  your  old  masters,  hold  to  your  lips  we  will  dash  from  you, 
and  leave  you  to  the  chances  of  gathering  the  spilled  and  scattered 
contents  in  some  vague  and  undefined  when,  where,  and  how.  15 
If  this  course,  discouraging  and  paralyzing  both  white  and  black, 
has  any  tendency  to  bring  Louisiana  into  proper  practical  rela- 
tions with  the   Union,   I  have  so  far  been  unable  to  perceive 
it.    If,  on  the  contrary,  we  recognize  and  sustain  the  new  gov- 
ernment of  Louisiana,  the  converse  of  all  this  is  made  true.    We  20 
encourage  the  hearts   and   nerve  the  arms  of  the   12,000  to 
adhere  to  their  work,   and  argue  for  it,  and  proselyte  for  it, 
and  fight  for  it,  and  feed  it,  and  grow  it,  and  ripen  it  to  a  com- 
plete success.    The  colored  man,  too,  in  seeing  all  united  for 
him,  is  inspired  with  vigilance,  and  energy,  and  daring,  to  the  25 
same  end.    Grant  that  he  desires  the  elective  franchise,  will  he 
not  attain  it  sooner  by  saving  the  already  advanced  steps  toward 
it  than  by  running  backward  over  them  ?  Concede  that  the  new 
government  of  Louisiana  is  only  to  what  it  should  be  as  the  egg 
is  to  the  fowl,  we  shall  sooner  have  the  fowl  by  hatching  the  3° 
egg  than  by  smashing  it. 

Again,  if  we  reject  Louisiana  we  also  reject  one  vote  in  favor 
of  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  national  Constitution.  To 
meet  this  proposition  it  has  been  argued  that  no  more  than 


124  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

three  fourths  of  those  states  which  have  not  attempted  secession 
are  necessary  to  validly  ratify  the  amendment.  I  do  not  commit 
myself  against  this  further  than  to  say  that  such  a  ratification 
would  be  questionable,  and  sure  to  be  persistently  questioned, 
5  while  a  ratification  by  three  fourths  of  all  the  states  would  be 
unquestioned  and  unquestionable.  I  repeat  the  question :  Can 
Louisiana  be  brought  into  proper  practical  relation  with  the 
Union  sooner  by  sustaining  or  by  discarding  her  new  state  gov- 
ernment ?    What  has  been  said  of  Louisiana  will  apply  generally 

io  to  other  states.  And  yet  so  great  peculiarities  pertain  to  each 
state,  and  such  important  and  sudden  changes  occur  in  the  same 
state,  and  withal  so  new  and  unprecedented  is  the  whole  case  that 
no  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan  can  safely  be  prescribed  as  to 
details  and  collaterals.    Such  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan  would 

15  surely  become  a  new  entanglement.  Important  principles  may 
and  must  be  inflexible.  In  the  present  situation,  as  the  phrase 
goes,  it  may  be  my  duty  to  make  some  new  announcement  to 
the  people  of  the  South.  I  am  considering,  and  shall  not  fail  to 
act  when  satisfied  that  action  will  be  proper. 


NOTES 

(Heavyface  numbers  refer  to  pages  of  text,  other  numbers  to  lines.) 

3  "Viezvs  on  Money-loaning,  Education,  and  Lawmaking""1 :  Lincoln's 
first  public  address  was  to  the  people  of  Sangamon  County,  Illinois. 
He  had  already  announced  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  state  (the  convention  system  was  not  in  vogue  at  that 
time).  The  only  preliminary  expected  of  a  candidate  was  to  state  his 
views  in  a  printed  circular,  which  was  distributed  through  his  district. 
Lincoln's  circular  was  a  document  of  about  two  thousand  words,  the 
bulk  of  it  given  to  a  subject  of  absorbing  interest  at  that  period,  —  the 
public  utility  of  internal  improvements.  In  the  interval  between  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  circular  in  March  and  the  election  in  August  came 
the  Black  Hawk  War,  in  which  Lincoln  served  as  captain  of  a  volun- 
teer company.  Lincoln  was  defeated  in  the  August  election,  —  the  only 
time,  he  says  in  his  brief  autobiography,  that  he  was  ever  defeated  on 
the  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

5  "Political  Views  in  1836 " :  Lincoln  was  first  elected  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  Illinois  in  1834.  He  ran  for  reelection  in  1836  and 
was  successful.  It  was  at  this  time  that  this  letter  to  the  Journal  was 
written.  The  only  expression  on  woman  suffrage  to  be  found  in  Lin- 
coln's collected  works  is  in  this  document. 

6  "First  Public  Protest  against  Slavery'''1 :  The  year  that  this  public 
protest  against  slavery  was  published,  a  proslavery  mob  made  up  of  citi- 
zens of  Alton,  Illinois,  killed  Elijah  Lovejoy,  the  editor  of  an  anti-slavery 
newspaper  published  in  the  town.  At  Springfield,  where  Mr.  Lincoln 
lived,  the  citizens  held  a  mass  meeting  and  resolved  that  "  the  efforts  of 
the  abolitionists  in  this  community  are  neither  necessary  nor  useful." 

7  "Letter  to  Williamson  Durley"  :  Williamson  Durley  and  his  brother 
Madison  were  prominent  leaders  of  the  "  Liberal  party,"  which  in  1845 
nominated  James  G.  Birney  as  its  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

9  "Letter  to  William  H.  Herndon  "  :  Mr.  Herndon,  in  his  "  Life  of 
Lincoln,"  explains  the  circumstance  which  called  out  this  letter :  "  I 
felt  at  this  time  (1848),  somewhat  in  advance  of  its  occurrence,  the 
death  throes  of  the  Whig  party.    I  did  not  conceal  my  suspicions,  and 

I25 


126  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

one  of  the  Springfield  papers  gave  my  sentiments  liberal  quotation  in 
its  columns.  I  felt  gloomy  over  the  prospect,  and  cut  out  these  news- 
paper slips  and  sent  them  to  Lincoln.  Accompanying  these  I  wrote 
him  a  letter  equally  melancholy  in  tone,  in  which,  among  other  things, 
I  reflected  severely  on  the  stubbornness  and  bad  judgment  of  the  fos- 
sils in  the  party,  who  were  constantly  holding  the  young  men  back. 
This  brought  from  him  a  letter,  July  10,  1848,  which  is  clearly  Lin- 
colnian  and  full  of  plain  philosophy.  Not  the  least  singular  of  all  is 
his  allusion  to  himself  as  an  old  man,  although  he  had  scarcely  passed 
his  thirty-ninth  year." 

13  " Letter  to  John  D.  Johnston" :  Abraham  Lincoln's  mother,  Nancy 
Hanks  Lincoln,  died  on  October  5,  1818.  In  December,  1819,  Thomas 
Lincoln  married,  in  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  Mrs.  Sarah  Bush  John- 
ston, a  widow  whom  he  had  known  as  a  young  girl.  Mrs.  Johnston  had 
three  children,  the  oldest  of  whom  was  John  D.  These  children  grew 
up  with  Abraham,  and  he  always  spoke  of  John  Johnston  as  his  brother. 

16  "Repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise" :  The  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, passed  in  1820,  provided  that  Missouri  might  come  in  as  a  slave 
state  if  slavery  was  never  allowed  north  of  360  30'  north  latitude.    In 

1853  Nebraska,  which  was  north  of  the  free  line  established  by  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  desired  to  be  organized  as  a  territory,  and  Ste- 
phen A.  Douglas,  a  member  from  Illinois  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  introduced  a  bill  giving  both  Nebraska  and  Kansas  the  govern- 
ment they  asked.  Later  he  added  to  this  bill  an  amendment  repealing 
the  Missouri  Compromise  and  permitting  settlers  in  the  new  territory 
to  reject  or  establish  slavery  as  they  should  see  fit.  This  bill  was  passed. 
In  October  of  1854  Douglas  came  to  Springfield  to  explain  his  bill  to 
his  Illinois  constituents  whom  it  had  disturbed.  Lincoln's  answer  to 
this  speech  made  a  profound  impression  and  forced  Douglas  at  once 
into  a  defense  of  his  measure.    Lincoln's  chief  argument  was  made  in 

1854  at  Peoria,  on  October  16. 

20  10  pro  ianto :  by  so  much,  to  that  extent. 

25  "after  the  Defeat  of  1856" :  In  1856  Lincoln  publicly  broke  his 
connection  with  the  Whig  party  and  joined  the  Republican  party,  which 
had  been  organized  that  year  in  Illinois.  He  made  some  fifty  speeches 
during  the  campaign  for  Fremont,  who  was  the  Republican  candidate 
for  the  presidency.  Fremont  was  defeated,  though  he  had  nearly  one 
hundred  thousand  votes  in  Illinois,  and  the  Republican  candidate  for 
governor  of  the  state,  Bissell,  was  elected. 


s 


NOTES  127 

26  18  The  Dred  Scott  decision  was  pronounced  by  Chief  Justice 
Taney  on  March  6,  1857.  Nicolay  and  Hay,  in  their  "Abraham  Lincoln : 
A  History"  (Vol.  II,  p.  73),  summarize  its  leading  conclusions  as  fol- 
lows: "That  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  do  not  include  or  refer  to  negroes  otherwise  than  as 
property ;  that  they  cannot  become  citizens  of  the  United  States  or 
sue  in  the  federal  courts  ;  that  Dred  Scott's  claim  to  freedom  by  reason 
of  his  residence  in  Illinois  was  a  Missouri  question,  which  Missouri  law 
had  decided  against  him  ;  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
recognizes  slaves  as  property,  and  pledges  the  federal  government  to 
protect  it ;  and  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  act  and  like  prohibitory 
laws  are  unconstitutional ;  that  the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States 
had  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case  and  could  give  no  judgment  in  it,  and 
must  be  directed  to  dismiss  the  suit." 

28  19  The  President  to  whom  Lincoln  here  refers  was  James  Bu- 
chanan ;  he  had  been  questioned  in  a  memorial  signed  by  Professor 
Benjamin  Silliman  of  Yale  College,  and  other  citizens  of  New  England, 
concerning  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  he  had  replied  in  a  public 
letter  in  which  he  said  that  slavery  existed  in  Kansas  under  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States ;  that  this  had  been  decided  by  the  high- 
est tribunal  known  to  our  laws  ;  and  he  added,  "  How  it  could  have 
ever  been  seriously  doubted  is  a  mystery." 

28  25  In  1857  a  convention  was  held  at  Lecompton,  Kansas,  to 
frame  a  constitution  for  the  new  territories.  It  included  a  clause 
permitting  slavery ;  this  clause,  submitted  apart  from  the  rest  of  the 
constitution,  was  adopted  in  December,  1857.  In  January,  1858,  the 
constitution  as  a  whole  was  submitted  and  rejected. 

31  5  The  four  workmen  to  whom  Lincoln  refers  as  "  Stephen, 
Franklin,  Roger,  and  James"  are  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  author 
of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  ;  Franklin  Pierce,  fourteenth 
president  of  the  United  States,  who  agreed  to  make  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  a  party  measure  ;  Roger  B.  Taney,  chief  justice 
of  the  United  States,  who  pronounced  the  Dred  Scott  decision ;  and 
James  Buchanan,  fifteenth  president  of  the  United  States,  who  defended 
that  decision. 

35  24  Francis  Preston  Blair,  known  as  Frank  Blair,  was  a  Missouri 
politician  and  a  prominent  leader  of  Union  sentiment  in  his  state. 
Gratz  Brown  was  also  a  Missouri  Unionist.  Both  men  were  active 
supporters  of  the  emancipation  of  the  negro. 


128  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

37  "Lincoln's  Autobiography" :  One  of  the  first  Illinois  politicians 
to  conceive  the  idea  that  Lincoln  might  be  an  available  candidate  for 
the  presidency  in  i860  was  Jesse  W.  Fell  of  Bloomington,  Illinois. 
While  the  Lincoln  and  Douglas  debates  were  going  on,  Fell  was 
traveling  in  the  East.  He  was  surprised  to  find  the  people  generally 
interested  in  Lincoln's  arguments.  He  frequently  was  questioned  about 
Lincoln's  personality.  On  his  return  Fell  talked  to  him  about  the  advis- 
ability of  putting  out  a  sketch  that  would  satisfy  the  curiosity  which  had 
been  awakened  by  the  speeches.  Lincoln  refused  to  believe  that  Fell  was 
right.  It  was  not  until  December  of  1859,  a  year  after  the  suggestion  was 
made,  that  he  consented  to  write  the  little  sketch  of  his  life  here  printed. 

37  19  Since  Lincoln's  death  the  effort  to  identify  his  family  with 
the  New  England  family  of  the  same  name  has  resulted  in  something 
more  definite  than  the  similarity  of  Christian  names  of  which  he  speaks. 
A  series  of  researches  in  official  documents  extending  over  fifty  years 
has  established  beyond  doubt  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  direct  de- 
scendant of  Samuel  Lincoln,  who  came  to  New  England  in  1637.  The 
fullest  and  most  authoritative  account  of  his  pedigree  is  to  be  found  in 
the  "Ancestry  of  Abraham  Lincoln  "  by  Lea  and  Hutchinson. 

39  "  Slavery  as  the  Fathers  viewed  it " :  Cooper  Union  had  been 
open  but  a  few  months  when  Lincoln  spoke  there.  He  had  one  of  the 
most  notable  audiences  which  have  ever  gathered  in  New  York.  This 
was  due  largely  to  the  impression  his  debates  with  Douglas  had  made. 
Many  of  his  friends  feared  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  hold  the  audience, 
but  his  success  was  pronounced.  The  speech  was  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant and  convincing  Lincoln  ever  made. 

53  9  A  little  over  four  months  before  the  Cooper  Union  meeting,  on 
October  16,  1859,  John  Brown  and  a  small  group  of  followers  had  seized 
the  arsenal  at  Harpers  Ferry,  Virginia.  They  hoped  to  arm  a  band  of 
negroes  and  incite  insurrection.  The  raid  was  unsuccessful.  Brown  was 
captured  on  October  18,  tried  by  the  commonwealth  of  Virginia,  and  was 
executed  on  December  2,  1859. 

55  19  pari  passu  :  proportionately. 

75  15-21  As  originally  written  this  address  closed  with  the  words, 
"  You  have  no  oath  registered  in  heaven  to  destroy  the  government," 
etc.  On  reaching  Washington  in  February  before  his  inauguration, 
Lincoln  gave  William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  a  copy  of  the  ad- 
dress. Mr.  Seward  objected  to  his  closing  words  and  suggested  the 
following  paragraph  : 


NOTES  129 

I  close.  We  are  not,  we  must  not  be,  aliens  or  enemies,  but  fellow  countrymen 
and  brethren.  Although  passion  has  strained  our  bonds  of  affection  too  hardly,  they 
must  not,  I  am  sure  they  will  not,  be  broken.  The  mystic  chords  which,  proceed- 
ing from  so  many  battlefields  and  so  many  patriotic  graves,  pass  through  all  the 
hearts  and  all  hearths  in  this  broad  continent  of  ours,  will  yet  again  harmonize  in 
their  ancient  music  when  breathed  upon  by  the  guardian  angel  of  the  nation. 

Mr.  Lincoln  rewrote  the  above  suggestion  of  Mr.  Seward,  making  of 
it  the  now  famous  paragraph  here  printed.  The  changes  made,  fur- 
nish an  admirable  study  of  the  way  in  which  Lincoln  handled  English.1 

76  " Lincoln 's  Reply  to  Secretary  Seward's  Offer  to  become  the  Head 
of  the  Administration  "  :  Mr.  Seward  undoubtedly  believed  sincerely 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  unfit  for  the  presidency,  and  that  one  of  his 
secretaries  would  be  obliged  to  assume  the  leadership.  When  he  accepted 
the  appointment  of  Secretary  of  State,  it  was  with  the  idea  that  he  would 
be  obliged  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  the  administration,  and  all 
his  early  work  was  done  under  this  conviction.  On  April  1,  1861,  he 
sent  Lincoln  "  Some  Thoughts  for  the  President's  Consideration."  Mr. 
Lincoln's  reply  shows  the  astonishing  suggestions  in  these  "  thoughts," 
though  it  is  so  courteously  worded  that  it  does  not  fully  reveal  their 
nature.  Mr.  Lincoln  never  showed  to  any  one  but  his  private  secretaries 
Seward's  communication  and  his  reply.  It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  when 
Mr.  Seward  finally  realized  Lincoln's  ability,  he  was  quick  to  acknowl- 
edge it. 

79  " Message  to  Congress  recommending  Compensated  Emancipation'''' : 
In  connection  with  this  message  on  compensated  emancipation  the 
reader's  attention  is  called  to  the  chapter  on  Lincoln  and  Emancipa- 
tion in  the  second  volume  of  Tarbell's  "  Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln." 

81  " Letter  to  Horace  Greeley" :  The  demand  for  the  immediate  eman- 
cipation of  the  negroes  was  strong  in  the  North  by  the  summer  of  1862. 
The  radicals  brought  heavy  pressure  to  bear  when  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not 
seem  to  sympathize  with  their  program.  On  August  20  Horace  Greeley 
printed  in  the  New  York  Tribune  a  signed  editorial  entitled  "  The  Prayer 
of  20,000,000,"  to  which  the  letter  here  reprinted  is  a  reply.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  President  had  in  his  desk  at  that  time  the  first  draft  of  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation. 

1  The  reader  interested  in  the  First  Inaugural  of  Lincoln  should  not  fail  to 
read  the  admirable  chapter  on  the  subject  in  Vol.  Ill  of  Nicolay  and  Hay's 
K  Abraham  Lincoln :  A  History/'  where  Mr.  Seward's  criticisms  are  given 
in  full. 


130  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

85  6  Mr.  Lincoln's  calculations  of  the  population  which  this  country 
ought  to  have  by  1900  have  proved  to  be  far  wide  of  the  mark.  He 
calculated  that  in  1900  we  ought  to  have  a  population  of  103,208,415. 
and  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  had  but  76,303,387,  —  374,485  less  than  he 
estimated  we  would  have  in  1890.  The  population  of  1910  he  fixed  at 
138,918,526.    The  recent  census  shows  that  we  have  about  92,000,000. 

94  11  General  Burnside  had  been  given  the  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  on  November  10,  1862.  He  succeeded  General  Mc- 
Clellan.  On  December  13,  1862,  Burnside  fought  the  battle  of  Fred- 
ericksburg and  was  defeated.  On  January  25,  1863,  Lincoln  ordered 
General  Hooker  to  relieve  Burnside.  The  next  day  the  President  wrote 
Hooker  the  letter  here  printed.  Noah  Brooks  heard  General  Hooker 
read  the  letter  soon  after  its  receipt,  and  as  he  folded  it  up  say,  "  That 
is  just  such  a  letter  as  a  father  might  write  to  his  son." 

97  "Letter  stating  his  Position  in  regard  to  the  War  and  to  E?)ian- 
cipaiio?i" :  In  August,  1863,  James  C.  Conkling  of  Illinois,  a  leading 
Republican,  wrote  Mr.  Lincoln,  requesting  him  to  come  to  the  state  to 
speak  at  a  mass  meeting  to  be  held  in  Springfield  in  favor  of  w  law  and 
order  and  constitutional  government."  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  leave 
Washington,  but  he  wrote  a  letter  which  he  himself  said  was  w  rather 
a  good  letter,"  and  which  Nicolay  and  Hay,  in  their  account  of  it,  call 
his  "last  stump  speech."  The  following  extract  from  their  "Abraham 
Lincoln  :  A  History  "  shows  what  reception  was  given  it.1 

Nothing  he  ever  uttered  had  a  more  instantaneous  success.  Mr.  Sumner 
immediately  wrote  to  him  :  "  Thanks  for  your  true  and  noble  letter.  It  is  a 
historical  document.  The  case  is  admirably  stated,  so  that  all  but  the  wicked 
must  confess  its  force.  It  cannot  be  answered."  Henry  Wilson  wrote  to  him  : 
"  God  Almighty  bless  you  for  your  noble,  patriotic,  and  Christian  letter.  It  will 
be  on  the  lips  and  in  the  hearts  of  hundreds  of  thousands  this  day."  Among  the 
letters  which  the  President  most  appreciated  was  one  from  the  venerable  Josiah 
Quincy,  then  ninety-one  years  of  age,  who  wrote  :  "  Old  age  has  its  privileges, 
which  this  letter  will  not  exceed ;  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  to  you 
my  gratitude  for  your  letter  to  the  Illinois  Convention,  —  happy,  timely,  conclu- 
sive, and  effective.  What  you  say  concerning  emancipation,  and  your  course  of 
proceeding  in  relation  to  it,  was  due  to  truth  and  to  your  own  character,  shame- 
fully assailed  as  it  has  been.  The  development  is  an  imperishable  monument  of 
wisdom  and  virtue."  After  discussing  the  question  of  emancipation  he  continued  : 
"  I  write  under  the  impression  that  the  victory  of  the  United  States  in  this  war 
is  inevitable  —  compromise  is  impossible.    Peace  on  any  other  basis  would  be  the 

1  Vol.  VII,  p.  385. 


NOTES  131 

establishment  of  two  nations,  each  hating  the  other,  both  military,  both  neces- 
sarily warlike,  their  territories  interlocked  with  a  tendency  of  never-ceasing 
hostility.  Can  we  leave  to  posterity  a  more  cruel  inheritance,  or  one  more 
hopeless  of  happiness  and  prosperity  ? "  Mr,  Lincoln  answered  this  letter  in 
a  tone  expressive  of  his  reverence  for  the  age  and  illustrious  character  of 
the  writer. 

101  "Proclamation  for  Thanksgiving,  1863  "  ;  This  proclamation  is 
the  first  making  of  Thanksgiving  Day  a  national  holiday.  Up  to  this 
date  it  had  been  observed  according  to  the  discretion  of  the  governors 
of  different  states.  In  1846  Sarah  Josepha  Hale,  the  editor  of  Godey's 
Lady's  Book  and  the  author  of  "  Mary  had  a  Little  Lamb,"  first  sug- 
gested that  the  day  be  made  national.  Regularly  after  that,  every  fall, 
she  sent  out  to  the  governors  of  all  the  states  an  appeal  that  they 
choose  the  last  Thursday  of  November  for  the  celebration.  Finally,  in 
1863,  for  the  first  time,  Mr.  Lincoln  proclaimed  a  national  Thanksgiving 
Day.    The  custom  thus  inaugurated  has  been  followed  ever  since. 

103  "  The  Gettysbjirg  Address  " ;  The  version  of  the  Gettysburg  speech 
here  given  is  that  made  by  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the  request  of  the  Honorable 
George  Bancroft  for  the  benefit  of  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Fair  held 
in  Baltimore  in  1864.  Any  one  interested  in  studying  the  history  of 
the  Gettysburg  speech  will  find  full  material  with  copies  of  the  four 
different  versions  in  a  pamphlet  called  "  The  Gettysburg  Address," 
written  by  Major  William  H.  Lambert  and  printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott 
Company  of  Philadelphia. 

109  16  The  election  of  Governor  Hahn  was  of  great  importance,  it 
being  the  first  attempt  at  reconstruction  in  a  Southern  state  from  which 
Confederate  forces  had  been  driven.  The  election  was  conducted  by 
the  military  commander,  General  Banks ;  three  tickets  were  in  the 
field  and  1 1,000  votes  were  cast.  General  Banks  said,  in  his  official  report 
to  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  the  ordinary  vote  of  the  state  had  been  40,000 
and  that  the  proportion  of  the  vote  cast  at  this  election  was  nearly 
equal  to  the  proportion  covered  by  the  federal  army.  Governor  Hahn 
was  inaugurated  on  March  4,  without  any  interference  from  the  military 
authorities.  The  convention  of  which  Mr.  Lincoln  speaks  in  the  letter 
here  printed  began  early  in  April  and  continued  until  July  25.  In  the 
constitution  adopted  slavery  was  abolished,  means  for  educating  colored 
children  were  provided,  the  negro  was  placed  on  equal  footing  before 
the  law  with  the  white  man,  and  the  power  to  grant  him  suffrage  was 
conferred  upon  the  legislature. 


I 


132  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

111  5  The  difficulty  with  the  question  of  emancipation,  which  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  at  the  beginning  of  his  first  administration,  is  well  illus- 
trated by  General  Fremont's  attempt  in  August,  1861,  to  free  the  slaves 
in  his  department.  An  excellent  account  of  this  attempt  will  be  found 
in  Vol.  IV  of  Nicolay  and  Hay's  "  Abraham  Lincoln :  A  History." 

112  " Letter  to  General  U.  S.  Grant"  :  Mr.  Lincoln  first  met  General 
Grant  in  March,  1S64;  this  was  after  Grant  had  captured  Vicksburg 
and  carried  on  successfully  the  campaign  in  East  Tennessee.  Congress 
had  revived  for  Grant's  benefit  the  rank  of  lieutenant  general,  and  on 
February  29  Lincoln  appointed  him  to  that  rank.  The  President  now 
asked  Grant  to  take  charge  of  the  campaign  against  Lee.  The  general 
immediately  reorganized  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  By  the  end  of 
April  he  was  ready  to  open  an  active  campaign. 

119  "T/ie  Last  Public  Address'''':  The  news  of  Lee's  surrender  to 
General  Grant  on  Sunday,  April  9,  1S65,  caused  great  rejoicing  through 
the  country.  On  Monday  evening  a  large  crowd  gathered  about  the 
White  House  in  Washington  to  congratulate  Mr.  Lincoln  and  to  ask 
for  a  speech.  He  told  them  that  if  they  would  come  back  the  next 
evening  he  would  be  ready  to  say  something  to  them,  but  that  he 
wanted  to  be  particular  that  what  he  said  was  right,  for  everything  got 
into  print  and  he  wanted  to  be  careful  not  to  make  mistakes.  The  next 
evening,  Tuesday,  April  11,  an  immense  crowd  gathered,  and  it  was 
then  that  the  remarks  here  quoted  were  made. 


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